Bilingual Health Communication: Working with Interpreters in Cross-Cultural Care - Paperback

by Elaine Hsieh (Author)

Winner of the NCA Health Communication 2021 Distinguished Book Award.

This book examines interpreter-mediated medical encounters and focuses primarily on the phenomenon of bilingual health care. It highlights the interactive and coordinated nature of interpreter-mediated interactions. Elaine Hsieh has put together over 15 hours of interpreter-mediated medical encounters, interview data with 26 interpreters from 17 different cultures/languages, 39 health care providers from 5 clinical specialties, and surveys of 293 providers from 5 clinical specialties. The depth and richness of the data allows for the presentation of a theoretical framework that is not restricted by language combination or clinical contexts. This will be the first book of its kind that includes not only interpreters' perspectives but also the needs and perspectives of providers from various clinical specialties.

Bilingual Health Communication presents an opportunity to lay out a new theoretical framework related to bilingual health care and connects the latest findings from multiple disciplines. This volume presents future research directions that promise development for both theory and practice in the field.

Author Biography

Elaine Hsieh holds a MA degree in Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a Doctorate Degree in Health Communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has worked as a telephone interpreter for the AT&T Language Line Services and as an onsite interpreter at many different hospitals, including the UCSF Stanford Health Care. She is a 2015-2016 Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar and an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Communication at the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Hsieh has been involved in research on bilingual health communication for over 15 years. She obtained a 3-year NIH grant as the Principal Investigator to examine providers' needs in interpreter-mediated encounters. The American Medical Association's Office Guide to Communicating with Limited English Proficient Patients have adopted her work as the primary theoretical framework in conceptualizing different types of interpreters and their corresponding impacts. As a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar, She conducted research on the effects of language barriers for immigrant in Taiwan and is Associate Editor of Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.