Exploring the experiences of interpreters providing remote interpreting services for people with long term conditions from minoritised ethnic groups: a qualitative study

Conference:

SAPC ASM 2024 - Bristol

Talk Code:

10A.2

Presenter:

Nina Fudge, Helen Atherton

Twitter:

@Ratna_Sohanpal

Co-authors:

Brenda Hayanga, Helen Atherton, Stephanie Taylor, Nina Fudge, Marta Wanat, Grainne Colligan, Ceri Durham, Eleanor Southgate

Author institutions:

Queen Mary University of London, City, University of London, University of Southampton, University of Oxford, Social Action for Health (community partner)

Problem

Remote health care delivery (via telephone, smartphone, video link/ other website platforms) has become a common form of health care delivery. However, people with long term conditions with complex needs, who may be older, are less likely to access or use technology. Additionally, people from an ethnic minority group whose first language is not English, may require language support during consultations. Interpreting services are being used for remote appointments, but little is known about the views and experiences of interpreters (not family or friends) providing remote interpreting services.

Approach

We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 19 interpreters to explore their views of interpreting in order to understand the experience and challenges of providing interpreting support remotely for patients having remote consultations and what might be improved. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and are being analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings

The interpreters were providing support for a variety health care conditions (including depression, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease). The remote modes most commonly used were a mix of video and telephone. The non-English languages supported were a mainly mix of South Asian and African languages. Most interpreters had completed a level 3 community-level interpreting qualification, and some had a level 6 qualification. A few did not have an interpreting qualification. The number of years of remote interpreting experience ranged from less than 1 year to more than 10 years with most experience between 1 and 5 years. Initial findings highlight issues around the limited time given to prepare for a consultation, e.g. “don’t give you even seconds to prepare”. At times no prior information at all was provided to the interpreter. We also identified challenges during telephone interpreting, e.g. “cannot see the expression, the body language”, and challenges during video interpreting including issues with technology e.g. “our patients are not very web literate.” There were also issues with interpreting medical terminology e.g. “if you are rigid in your translation, the meaning of that particular question may not come across that well.” The interpreter with more years of interpreting experience can help to overcome some of the challenges during remote interpreting but several suggestions for improvement were made, such as providing interpreters with more training or resources to aid understanding of a health condition, more preparation time, technological support e.g. “provide interpreters with access to resources in the languages that you are interpreting, especially like dictionaries or you know software that can help you improve your vocabulary to talk about the condition.”

Consequences

The findings following completion of the analysis will be used to highlight issues raised around remote interpreting and provide potential solutions to improve availability, accessibility, and quality of remote care delivery.

Submitted by:

Ratna Sohanpal

Funding acknowledgement:

This study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research (project reference 665). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.