Cross-Language Qualitative Child Health Research: A Systematic Review.

Area of Science:

• Child Health Research
• Qualitative Methodologies
• Sociolinguistics in Healthcare

Background:

• Increasing number of US children have parents preferring languages other than English (LOEs).
• Existing English proficiency requirements exclude many LOE families from qualitative research participation.
• Limited guidance exists to promote the inclusion of LOE populations in qualitative research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize published child health cross-language qualitative research.
• To examine trends in conducting research with language barriers between researchers and participants.
• To identify and recommend inclusive practices for cross-language qualitative research.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of US-based cross-language qualitative studies (January 2010-July 2025).
• Inclusion of studies involving adult LOE caregivers and child health topics.
• Data extraction focused on cross-language processes in study design, data collection, and analysis.

Main Results:

• Fifty-two studies were included, predominantly featuring Spanish-speaking participants.
• Diverse health issues and populations were covered, with varied methods for data collection from LOE caregivers.
• Most analyses were conducted in English post-translation; reliance on bilingual staff was common; dissemination back to communities was rarely described.

Conclusions:

• Cross-language qualitative child health research has seen recent growth.
• Variability in methods necessitates the development of best practices for handling LOE data.
• Recommendations are provided to enhance inclusivity, generalizability, and quality in US child health research.