Managing uncertainty in healthcare interpreter-mediated interaction

Area of Science:

• Medical Sociology
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Healthcare Communication Studies

Background:

• Healthcare interactions between doctors and migrant patients present unique communication challenges.
• Intercultural mediators play a crucial role in bridging language and cultural gaps in medical settings.
• Effective communication is vital for accurate diagnosis and patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the interactional work of intercultural mediators in doctor-migrant patient communication.
• To examine how mediators assist doctors in formulating questions and patients in understanding them.
• To understand how mediators manage communicative uncertainty in healthcare encounters.

Main Methods:

• The study employed conversation analysis and social systems theory.
• Data comprised 300 healthcare interactions involving Arabic-Italian and English-Italian language pairs.
• Analysis focused on question-answer sequences within doctor-patient-mediator interactions.

Main Results:

• Mediators help doctors design questions that elicit medically relevant information.
• Mediators assist patients in understanding complex medical questions and formulating appropriate responses.
• Mediators manage communicative uncertainty by clarifying patient statements and conveying doctor's attention.

Conclusions:

• Intercultural mediators are essential for navigating complex communication in diverse healthcare settings.
• Mediators enhance the quality of care by facilitating accurate information exchange.
• Supporting mediators' roles can improve health outcomes for migrant populations.