Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2025

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Language barriers in mental healthcare: A critical analysis
1Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand.
None:
In multicultural healthcare settings, language barriers pose significant challenges, particularly in mental health where nuanced communication is vital. This manuscript examines the impact of limited English proficiency (LEP) on mental healthcare in New Zealand, where a substantial portion of the population and healthcare workforce are foreign-born. Despite official recommendations, professional interpreter use remains low, compromising care quality for LEP patients. The paper explores interpreters' roles beyond interpretation, including cultural mediation, while noting limitations in interpreter-mediated consultations. It also addresses communication difficulties arising from strong accents and dialects, even when a common language is shared. Multifaceted strategies to improve communication are proposed, including enhanced cultural competency training, patient-centered protocols, and language matching in healthcare teams. Emphasizing a polycultural approach, the manuscript advocates for comprehensive interventions addressing linguistic, cultural, and cognitive aspects of communication in mental healthcare. It calls for further research and policy changes to integrate language access and cultural competency into healthcare quality assessments, aiming to reduce disparities and improve outcomes for diverse patient populations.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Barriers to Effective Communication II
Cultural barriers:
Differences in values, beliefs, religion, knowledge, and tradition can significantly impact communication. Awareness of nonverbal cues is critical, especially when conversing with a patient from a different culture. What appears appropriate in one culture may be inappropriate in another.
Semantic barriers:
As a result of their tendency to use...
Barriers to Effective Communication I
Communication barriers include the following:
Physiological barriers: They are limitations caused by a person's health condition or disability, such as hearing loss, poor eyesight, illness, or unconsciousness. An example to overcome this...
Language and Cognition
Language
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...
Therapeutic Communication
Verbal communication depends on language or a prescribed way of using words so that people can share information effectively. The critical aspects of verbal...
Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia

