Working with interpreters in health care: A systematic review and meta-ethnography of qualitative studies

Patient Education and Counseling

Volumn 91, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 131-140

  Brisset, Camille ^a   Leanza, Yvan ^a   Laforest, Karine ^a  

^a UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL   (Canada)

Author keywords

Communication; Interpreters; Matrix method; Meta ethnography; Migrant health

Indexed keywords

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH; HEALTH CARE DELIVERY; HEALTH CARE PRACTICE; HEALTH CARE QUALITY; HUMAN; INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION; INTERPRETER SERVICE; PATIENT CARE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; SHORT SURVEY; SYSTEMATIC REVIEW;

COMMUNICATION; DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE; EMIGRANTS AND IMMIGRANTS; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; TRANSLATING;

EID: 84875898326     PISSN: 07383991     EISSN: 18735134     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2012.11.008     Document Type: Short Survey

References (101)

1. Pottie K., Ng E., Spitzer D., Mohammed A., Glazier R. Language proficiency, gender and self-reported health: an analysis of the first two waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada. Can J Public Health 2008, 505-510.
2. Divi C., Koss R.G., Schmaltz S.P., Loeb J.M. Language proficiency and adverse events in US hospitals: a pilot study. Int J Qual Health C 2007, 19:60-67.
3. David R.A., Rhee M. The impact of language as a barrier to effective health care in an underserved urban Hispanic community. Mt Sinai J Med 1998, 65:393-397.
4. Sarver J., Baker D.W. Effect of language barriers on follow-up appointments after an emergency department visit. J Gen Intern Med 2000, 15:256-264.
5. Weech-Maldonado R., Morales L.S., Elliott M.N., Spritzer K.L., Marshall G., Hays R.D. Race/ethnicity, language and patients' assessments of care in Medicaid Managed Care. Health Serv Res 2003, 38:789-808.
6. Gandhi T.K., Burstin H.R., Cook E.F., Puopolo A.L., Haas J.S., Brennan T.A., et al. Drug complications in outpatients. J Gen Intern Med 2000, 15:149-154.
7. John-Baptiste A., Naglie G., Tomlinson G., Alibhai S.M.H., Etchells E., Cheung A., et al. The effect of English language proficiency on length of stay and in-hospital mortality. J Gen Intern Med 2004, 19:221-228.
8. Weech-Maldonado R., Elliott M.N., Morales L.S., Spritzer K., Marshall G.N., Hays R.D. Health plan effects on patient assessments of medicaid managed care among racial/ethnic minorities. J Gen Intern Med 2004, 19:136-145.
9. Flores G. The impact of medical interpreter services on the quality of health care: a systematic review. Med Care Res Rev 2005, 62:255-299.
10. Maltby H.J. Interpreters: a double-edged sword in nursing practice. J Transcult Nurs 1999, 10:248-254.
11. Brach C., Fraser I., Paez K. Crossing the language chams. An in-depth analysis of what language-assistance look like in practice. Health Affair 2005, 24:424-434.
12. Karliner L.S., Jacobs E.A., Chen A.H., Mutha S. Do professional interpreters improve clinical care for patients with limited English proficiency? A systematic review of the literature. Health Serv Res 2007, 42:727-754.
13. Bauer A.M., Alegria M. Impact of patient language proficiency and interpreter service use on the quality of psychiatric care: a systematic review. Psychiatr Serv 2010, 61:765-773.
14. Tribe R., Lane P. Working with interpreters across language and culture in mental health. J Ment Health 2009, 18:233-241.
15. Karsenti T., Savoie-Zajc L. Introduction à la recherche en éducation 2000, éditions du CRP, Université de Sherbrooke, Faculté d'éducation, Sherbrooke, QC.
16. Atkins S., Lewin S., Smith H., Engel M., Fretheim A., Volmink J. Conducting a meta-ethnography of qualitative literature: lessons learnt. BMC Med Res Methodol 2008, 8.
17. Noblit G.W., Hare D. Meta-ethnography: synthesizing qualitative studies 1988, Sage, Newbury Park.
18. Barry C., Stevenson F., Britten N., Barber N., Bradley C. Giving voice to the lifeworld. More humane, more effective medical care? A qualitative study of doctor-patient communication in general pratice. Soc Sci Med 2001, 53:487-505.
19. Mishler E.G. The discourse of medicine: dialectics of medical interviews 1984, Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood.
20. Habermas, critical theory and health 2001, London, Routledge. G. Scambler (Ed.).
21. Greenhalgh T., Robb N., Scambler G. Communicative and strategic action in interpreted consultations in primary health care: a Habermasian perspective. Soc Sci Med 2006, 63:1170-1187.
22. Leanza Y. Pédiatres, parents migrants et interprètes communautaires: un dialogue de sourds?. Cahiers de l'Institut lausannois des sciences du langage 2004, 16:131-158.
23. Habermas J. The theory of communicative action 1991, Polity Press, Oxford.
24. Paillé P., Mucchielli A. L'analyse qualitative en sciences humaines et sociales 2008, Armand Collin, Paris. 2nd ed.
25. Thong A., Sainsbury P., Craig J. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus group. Int J Qual Health C 2007, 19:349-357.
26. Malterud K. Qualitative research: standards, challenges, guidelines. Lancet 2011, 358:483-488.
27. Garrard J. Health sciences literature review made easy: the Matrix method 1999, Jones & Bartlett Learning, Sudbury, MA.
28. Garrard J. Health sciences literature review made easy: the Matrix method 2011, Jones & Bartlett Learning, Sudbury, MA. 3rd ed.
29. Kaufert J.M., Koolage W.W. Role conflict among 'culture brokers': the experience of native Canadian medical interpreters. Soc Sci Med 1984, 18:283-286.
30. Drennan G., Swartz L. A concept over-burdened: institutional roles for psychiatric interpreters in post-apartheid South Africa. Interpreting 1999, 4:169-198.
31. Davidson B. Questions in cross-linguistic medical encounters: the role of the hospital interpreter. Anthropol Quart 2001, 74:170-178.
32. Hatton D.C., Webb T. Information transmission in bilingual, bicultural contexts: a field study of community health nurses and interpreters. J Community Health Nurs 1993, 10:137-147.
33. Hsieh E., Hong S.J. Not all are desired: providers' views on interpreters' emotional support for patients. Patient Educ Couns 2010, 81:192-197.
34. Kaufert J.M. Cultural mediation in cancer diagnosis and end of life decision-making: the experience of aboriginal patients in Canada. Anthropol Med 1999, 6:405-421.
35. Leanza Y. Roles of community interpreters in pediatrics as seen by interpreters, physicians and researchers. Interpreting 2005, 7:167-192.
36. Miller K.E., Martell Z.L., Pazdirek L., Caruth M., Lopez D. The role of interpreters in psychotherapy with refugees: an exploratory study. Am J Orthopsychiatry 2005, 75:27-39.
37. Hasselkus B.R. The family caregiver as interpreter in the geriatric medical interview. Med Anthropol Q 1992, 6:288-304.
38. Pugh M.A., Vetere A. Lost in translation: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of mental health professionals' experiences of empathy in clinical work with an interpreter. Psychol Psychother 2009, 82:305-321.
39. Rosenberg E., Leanza Y., Seller R. Doctor-patient communication in primary care with an interpreter: physician perceptions of professional and family interpreters. Patient Educ Couns 2007, 67:286-292.
40. Singy P. Health and migration: ideal translation or translation ideology?. Ling 2003, 39:135-149.
41. O'Neil J.D. The cultural and political context of patient dissatisfaction in cross-cultural clinical encounters: a Canadian Inuit study. Med Anthropol Q 1989, 3:325-344.
42. Dysart-Gale D. Communication models, professionalization, and the work of medical interpreters. Health Commun 2005, 17:91-103.
43. Matthews C., Johnson M., Noble C., Klinken A. Bilingual health communicators: role delineation issues. Aust Health Rev 2000, 23:104-112.
44. Hatton D.C. Information transmission in bilingual, bicultural contexts. J Community Health Nurs 1992, 9:53-59.
45. Labun E. Shared brokering: the development of a nurse/interpreter partnership. J Immigr Health 1999, 1:215-222.
46. Norris W.M., Wenrich M.D., Nielsen E.L., Treece P.D., Jackson J.C., Curtis J.R. Communication about end-of-life care between language-discordant patients and clinicians: insights from medical interpreters. J Palliat Med 2005, 8:1016-1024.
47. Angelelli C.V. Validating professional standards and codes: challenges and opportunities. Interpreting 2006, 8:175-193.
48. Dysart-Gale D. Clinicians and medical interpreters: negotiating culturally appropriate care for patients with limited English ability. Fam Community Health 2007, 30:237-246.
49. Hsieh E. Interpreters as co-diagnosticians: overlapping roles and services between providers and interpreters. Soc Sci Med 2007, 64:924-937.
50. Hsieh E. " I am not a robot!" Interpreters' views of their roles in health care settings. Qual Health Res 2008, 18:1367-1383.
51. Rosenberg E., Seller R., Leanza Y. Through interpreters' eyes: comparing roles of professional and family interpreters. Patient Educ Couns 2008, 70:87-93.
52. Hilfinger Messias D.K., McDowell L., Estrada R.D. Language interpreting as social justice work: perspectives of formal and informal healthcare interpreters. Adv Nurs Sci 2009, 32:128-143.
53. Hadziabdic E., Heikkila K., Albin B., Hjelm K. Migrants' perceptions of using interpreters in health care. Int Nurs Rev 2009, 56:461-469.
54. Robb N., Greenhalgh T. " You have to cover up the words of the doctor" : the mediation of trust in interpreted consultations in primary care. J Health Organ Manag 2006, 20:434-455.
55. Saleh M., Barlow-Stewart K., Meiser B., Muchamore I. Challenges faced by genetics service providers' practicing in a culturally and linguistically diverse population: an Australian experience. J Genet Couns 2009, 18:436-446.
56. Yang C.-F., Gray B. Bilingual medical students as interpreters: what are the benefits and risks?. N Z Med J 2008, 121:15-28.
57. Edwards R., Temple B., Alexander C. Users' experiences of interpreters: the critical role of trust. Interpreting 2005, 7:77-95.
58. O'Donnell C.A., Higgins M., Chauhan R., Mullen K. " They think we're OK and we know we're not" A qualitative study of asylum seekers' access, knowledge and views to health care in the UK. BMC Health Serv Res 2007, 7.
59. MacFarlane A., Dzebisova Z., Karapish D., Kovacevic B., Ogbebor F., Okonkwo E. Arranging and negotiating the use of informal interpreters in general practice consultations: experiences of refugees and asylum seekers in the west of Ireland. Soc Sci Med 2009, 69:210-214.
60. Free C., Green J., Bhavnani V., Newman A. Bilingual young people's experiences of interpreting in primary care: a qualitative study. Br J Gen Pract 2003, 53:530-535.
61. Raval H., Smith J.A. Therapists' experiences of working with language interpreters. Int J Ment Health 2003, 32:6-31.
62. Lee T.S., Lansbury G., Sullivan G. Health care interpreters: a physiotherapy perspective. Aust J Physiother 2005, 51:161-165.
63. Fatahi N., Hellström M., Skott C., Mattsson B. General practitioners' views on consultations with interpreters: a triad situation with complex issues. Scand J Prim Health Care 2008, 26:40-45.
64. Hsieh E. Provider-interpreter collaboration in bilingual health care: competitions of control over interpreter-mediated interactions. Patient Educ Couns 2010, 78:154-159.
65. Hsieh E., Ju H., Kong H. Dimensions of trust: the tensions and challenges in provider-interpreter trust. Qual Health Res 2009, 20:170-181.
66. Fortin S, Laprise E. L'espace clinique comme espace social [Clinical space as social space]. In: Cognet M, Montgommery C, editors. Ethique de l'altérité. La question de la culture dans le champ de la santé et des services sociaux [Ethics of otherness. The question of culture in the field of health and social services]. Quebec-City: Presses de l'Université Laval; 2007:191-214.
67. Leanza Y. Exercer la pédiatrie en contexte multiculturel. Une approche complémentariste du rapport institutionalisé à l'Autre 2011, Georg, Geneva.
68. Drennan G. Psychiatry, post-apartheid integration and the neglected role of language in South African institutional contexts. Transcult Psychiatry 1999, 36:5-22.
69. Nailon R.E. Nurses' concerns and practices with using interpreters in the care of Latino patients in the emergency department. J Transcult Nurs 2006, 17:119-128.
70. Drennan G., Swartz L. The paradoxical use of interpreting in psychiatry. Soc Sci Med 2002, 54:1853-1866.
71. Gerrish K., Chau R., Sobowale A., Birks E. Bridging the language barrier: the use of interpreters in primary care nursing. Health Soc Care Commun 2004, 12:407-413.
72. Hudelson P. Improving patient-provider communication: insights from interpreters. Fam Pract 2005, 22:311-316.
73. Singy P., Guex P. The interpreter's role with immigrant patients: contrasted points of view. Commun Med 2005, 2:45-51.
74. Fatahi N., Mattsson B., Hasanpoor J., Skott C. Interpreters' experiences of general practitioner-patient encounters. Scand J Prim Health Care 2005, 23:159-163.
75. Larrison C.R., Velez-Ortiz D., Hernandez P.M., Piedra L.M., Goldberg A. Brokering language and culture: can ad hoc interpreters fill the language service gap at community health centers?. Soc Work Public Health 2010, 25:387-407.
76. Vissandjee B., Ntetu A.L., Courville F., Breton E.R., Bourdeau M. The interpreter in an intercultural clinical milieu. Can Nurse 1998, 94:36-42.
77. Gadon M., Balch G.I., Jacobs E.A. Caring for patients with limited English proficiency: the perspectives of small group practitioners. J Gen Intern Med 2007, 22:341-346.
78. Wiking E., Saleh-Stattin N., Johansson S.E., Sundquist J. A description of some aspects of the triangular meeting between immigrant patients, their interpreters and GPs in primary health care in Stockholm, Sweden. Fam Pract 2009, 26:377-383.
79. Cohen S., Moran-Ellis J., Smaje C. Children as informal interpreters in GP consultations: pragmatics and ideology. Sociol Health Ill 1999, 21:163-186.
80. Hsieh E. Conflicts in how interpreters manage their roles in provider-patient interactions. Soc Sci Med 2006, 62:721-730.
81. Diamond L.C., Schenker Y., Curry L., Bradley E.H., Fernandez A. Getting by: underuse of interpreters by resident physicians. J Gen Intern Med 2009, 24:256-262.
82. Engstrom D.W., Roth T., Hollis J. The use of interpreters by torture treatment providers. J Ethn Cult Divers Soc Work 2010, 19:54-72.
83. Fatahi N., Mattsson B., Lundgren S.M., Hellstrom M. Nurse radiographers' experiences of communication with patients who do not speak the native language. J Adv Nurs 2010, 66:774-783.
84. Leanza Y., Boivin I., Rosenberg E. Interruptions and resistance: a comparison of medical consultations with family and trained interpreters. Soc Sci Med 2010, 70:1888-1895.
85. Aranguri C., Davidson B., Ramirez R. Patterns of communication through interpreters: a detailed sociolinguistic analysis. J Gen Intern Med 2006, 21:623-629.
86. Pham K., Thornton J.D., Engelberg R.A., Jackson J.C., Curtis J.R. Alterations during medical interpretation of ICU family conferences that interfere with or enhance communication. Chest 2008, 134:109-116.
87. Moro M.R., de Pury Toumi S. Essai d'analyse des processus interactifs de la traduction dans un entretien ethnopsychiatrique. Nouvelle Revue d'Ethnopsychiatrie 1994, 25:47-85.
88. Davidson B. The interpreter as institutional gatekeeper: the social-linguistic role of interpreters in Spanish-English medical discourse. J Socioling 2000, 4:379-405.
89. Elderkin-Thompson V., Silver R.C., Waitzkin H. When nurses double as interpreters: a study of Spanish-speaking patients in a US primary care setting. Soc Sci Med 2001, 52:1343-1358.
90. Farini F. Intercultural and interlinguistical mediation in the healthcare system: the challenge of conflict management. Migrac Etn Teme 2008, 24:251-271.
91. National Council on Interpreting in Health Care. Policy Initiatives. <>; 2007 [accessed 22.04.11]. http://www.ncihc.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=57029&orgId=ncihc.
92. L'Angleterre [England]. TLFQ, Université Laval. <>; 2011 [accessed 22.04.11]. http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/europe/angleterre.htm.
93. Canada Health Act. Minister of Justice; R.S.C., 1985, c. C-6.
94. Flores G., Laws M.B., Mayo S.J., Zuckerman B., Abreu M., Medina L., et al. Errors in medical interpretation and their potential clinical consequences in pediatric encounters. Pediatrics 2003, 111:6-14.
95. Flores G., Abreu M., Barone C.P., Bachur R., Lin H. Errors of medical interpretation and their potential clinical consequences: a comparison of professional versus ad hoc versus no interpreters. Ann Emerg Med 2012, 60:545-553.
96. Farooq S., Fear C., Oyebode F. An investigation of the adequacy of psychiatric interviews conducted through an interpreter. Psychiatric Bulletin 1997, 21:209-213.
97. Wadensjö C. Interpreting as interaction 1998, Longman, London.
98. European TRICC Project " TRaining in Intercultural and bilingual Competencies in health and social Care" 2011, Centre for Social Policy and Intervention Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands. L. Meeuwesen, S. Twilt (Eds.).
99. Schouten B., Ross J., Zendedel R., Meeuwesen L. Informal interpreters in medical settings. A comparative socio-cultural study of the Netherlands and Turkey. The Translator 2012, 18:311-338.
100. National Council on Interpreting in Health Care. National standards for healthcare interpreter training programs. Washington, DC; 2011.
101. Pöchhacker F. 'Getting organized': the evolution of community interpreting. Interpreting 1999, 4:125-140.