Evaluation of Nurse-Patient Language Barrier Issues: A Qualitative Study on the Views of Psychiatric Clinic Nurses

Effective communication, which is critical for quality care and therapeutic relationships in psychiatric nursing, becomes difficult when hindered by language barriers. This makes it challenging for nurses to fulfil their caregiving roles, establish trust with patients, and support the treatment process. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate nurses' experiences with language barriers when providing care to their patients.

This study aims to identify the language barriers experienced by nurses working in an acute psychiatric clinic who are unable to communicate in the same language as their patients, and to determine possible strategies to overcome these challenges.

The study was designed as a qualitative case study. The participants were eight nurses working in a state hospital's acute psychiatric clinic in Türkiye. The data was collected with a semi-structured interview guide. Then it was transcribed and coded through content analysis.

Three main themes emerged: (1) professional implications of communication in psychiatric care, (2) challenges related to language barriers, and (3) proposed solutions.

The findings suggest that integrating psychiatric nurses' insights on language barriers is crucial for delivering high-quality healthcare in psychiatric care. It has been determined that language differences between patients and nurses affect the quality of care and pose a threat to establishing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship based on trust between nurses and patients. These problems disrupt the psychiatric treatment and care process. Psychiatric nurses have proposed individual and institutional solutions to these problems, as well as practical solutions aimed at establishing trust.