Language barriers in healthcare delivery

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercy Akrofi Ansah ◽  
Mercy Adzo Klugah
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Language Barriers ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Communication Accommodation ◽  
Quality Healthcare ◽  
Communication Accommodation Theory ◽  
Doctor Patient Communication ◽  
Accommodation Theory

The relevance of language for quality healthcare delivery cannot be overemphasised. Within the framework of communication accommodation theory, this paper discusses language barriers in expatriate doctor–patient communication in three state-owned hospitals in Ghana, and the strategies employed by the medical personnel to bridge communication gaps. The study design is qualitative and the data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with 16 expatriate doctors, three nurses and three patients. Furthermore, observation of five patient–doctor interactions was undertaken and notes taken. Both datasets were then analysed using the qualitative conventional content analysis approach. The findings revealed that the expatriate doctors employed convergence strategies such as ad hoc interpreters, gestures, picture charts and electronic dictionaries to deal with language barriers. The study is expected to stimulate further research into innovative ways of dealing with language barriers in expatriate doctor–patient interactions.

Assessing Communication Behaviours of Hospital Pharmacists: How Well Do the Perspectives of Pharmacists, Patients, and an Independent Observer Align?

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 626-652
Author(s):  
Bernadette A. M. Chevalier ◽  
Bernadette M. Watson ◽  
Michael A. Barras ◽  
William Neil Cottrell
Keyword(s):  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Communication Accommodation ◽  
Independent Observer ◽  
Hospital Pharmacists ◽  
Communication Accommodation Theory ◽  
Training Tool ◽  
Quality Patient Care ◽  
Hospital Patients ◽  
Accommodation Theory ◽  
Communication Behaviours

Pharmacists need effective communication skills to provide high-quality patient care. To date, little has been published about hospital pharmacists’ communication behaviours, most is atheoretical, and has not studied patients and pharmacists as a dyad. We investigated how well pharmacists’ and patients’ perspectives of their shared conversation aligned, and how closely these perspectives matched that of an outsider (observer). We invoked communication accommodation theory using audio-recorded, semi-structured interviews, held separately with hospital patients ( n = 48) and pharmacists ( n = 12). Quantitative analyses indicated where patients, pharmacists, and observer perspectives aligned and occasions where they did not. With some exceptions, most pharmacists and patients held similar opinions about pharmacist communication behaviours. Observer–pharmacist discrepancies highlighted areas for further communication development using communication accommodation theory as a training tool.

HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES IN GILGIT BALTISTAN: THE WAY FORWARD

1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-116
Author(s):  
Amimah Fatima Asif
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Quality Healthcare ◽  
Accident And Emergency ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Common ◽  
Gilgit Baltistan ◽  
And Child Health

Quality healthcare delivery is the bedrock to exponentially accelerate the development of a country. Unfortunately, in Pakistan healthcare has been neglected since a long time, with the common man bearing the brunt of this acute situation. There are critical challenges in health care, with paucity of trained human resource and deficit of regulated infrastructure and service delivery being the predominant dilemmas. Primary and secondary healthcare are in an unseemly state, to say the least. Maternal and child health care, accident, and emergency departments and mental health are among the most undermined and forsaken areas of healthcare, primarily in the far flung Gilgit Baltistan region of Pakistan. The only way forward is if the political regime, administration and the medical personnel work in concurrence to revise the health infrastructure of the country.

scholarly journals Managing patient aggression in healthcare: Initial testing of a communication accommodation theory intervention

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-81
Author(s):  
Rachyl Pines ◽  
Howard Giles ◽  
Bernadette Watson
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Workplace Violence ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Primary Care Clinic ◽  
Initial Test ◽  
Communication Accommodation ◽  
Care Clinic ◽  
Communication Accommodation Theory ◽  
Patient Cooperation ◽  
Accommodation Theory

Abstract Patient-perpetrated workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare is common. Although communication skills trainings are helpful, they may be strengthened by having a theoretical framework to improve replicability across contexts. This study developed and conducted an initial test of a training framed by Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) using longitudinal mixed-methods surveys of healthcare professionals in an American primary care clinic to increase their self-efficacy, patient cooperation, and use of CAT strategies to de-escalate patient aggression. Results of the intervention indicate that the CAT training significantly increased professionals’ efficacy and reported patient cooperation over time. Findings showed that those who reported using more of the five CAT strategies also reported situations that they were able to de-escalate effectively. This initial test of a CAT training to prevent WPV demonstrates promise for the applicability of CAT strategies to de-escalate patient aggression, and the need to scale and test these trainings in settings that experience high WPV levels.

scholarly journals The Applicability of Communication Accommodation Theory and Empathy Strategy in Speeches ——A Case Study from Remarks by Ambassador Cui Tiankai in 2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Causal Attribution ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Communication Accommodation ◽  
Communication Accommodation Theory ◽  
Communication Practice ◽  
Accommodation Theory

This paper is mainly based on the topic of whether the theory of Communication Accommodation (CAT) is applicable in speeches and how the Empathy strategy is applied in speeches. A case study from a speech by Ambassador Cui Tiankai at the Welcome Dinner Hosted by Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin is analyzed as a sample of intercultural communication practice. The research analyzes and explores the origin of the CAT and its related theories as well as elaborates on similarity-attraction theory, social exchange theory, causal attribution, social identity theory and some major strategies such as convergence, divergence and over-convergence for the purpose of the applicability of CAT in speeches. What is more, empathy as an important strategy is illustrated in detail. After a careful analysis, it has been proved that it is effective and practical for the application of CAT in speeches. Furthermore, the application of Empathy strategy in speeches will create a rewarding outcome.

“Look me, hwε ha, ofainε kwεmɔ biε aha mi fioo!!”: Codeswitching at inter-ethnic traditional marriage ceremonies in southern Ghana

Multilingua ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-311
Author(s):  
Anastasia Nuworsu ◽  
Grace Diabah ◽  
Evershed Kwasi Amuzu
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Ethnography Of Communication ◽  
Linguistic Distance ◽  
Communication Accommodation ◽  
Communication Accommodation Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Marriage ◽  
Accommodation Theory ◽  
Social Messages ◽  
University Of Ghana

AbstractThis paper investigates the use of codeswitching at traditional inter-ethnic marriage ceremonies in the southern part of Ghana. The study site is Accra, the multilingual capital of Ghana which is located in the south of the country, and was selected due to the high frequency of inter-ethnic marriage ceremonies which take place there. The data analysed were audio-visual recordings of interactions at such ceremonies, collected, by (Nuworsu, Anastasia 2015: Language use in inter-ethnic marriage ceremonies in Greater Accra. MPhil. thesis, Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon.). They were complemented with observations made at the event grounds, as well as follow up interviews with key actors during and after the events. The theoretical framework employed is based on a combination of Giles’ Communication Accommodation Theory, Hymes’s Ethnography of Communication and Myers-Scotton‘s Markedness Model. It is found that bilinguals who speak on behalf of families participating in the ceremonies often use codeswitching in innovative ways to convey various social messages. Significant uses were: (i) speakers use codeswitching to converge toward the speech of their in-laws in a bid to decrease the social and linguistic distance between the two families and (ii) they use it as a divergence strategy to, for instance, increase the social and linguistic distance between them when they wish to accentuate an ideological, or any other, difference between them. Overall, the study contributes towards insights about inter-group language practices in multilingual African settings, especially in urban areas.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document