The perceptions of translation apps for everyday health care in healthcare workers and older people: A multi‐method study

Abstract

Aims and objectives To understand the attitudes and perceptions of older people with limited English proficiency (LEP) and healthcare workers to using mobile translation technology for overcoming language barriers in the healthcare setting. Background Australia's cohort of people aged 65 and over has a sizeable population with LEP. In healthcare settings, difficulties with communication may potentially result in inadequate care. Mobile language translation applications have been identified as a potential way to improve communication between patients and healthcare staff when used as an adjunct to professional interpreters in low‐risk scenarios; however, the perceptions of the use of mobile translation applications for such communication is unknown. Methods A multi‐method design was used. Focus group discussions were conducted with older people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and nursing and allied health professionals to understand their perceptions of translation technology. Qualitative data were analysed using inductive content analysis. Qualitative findings were reported using the Standards for Reporting of Qualitative Research (SRQR) checklist. Participants also appraised three existing translation apps via survey and results were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results Overall, older people from CALD backgrounds (n = 12) and healthcare staff (n = 17) agreed that translation technology could play a role in reducing communication barriers. There was enthusiasm amongst older people to learn and use the technology, while healthcare staff saw the potential to address communication barriers in their own work. Barriers identified by older people and healthcare staff included: accuracy of translation and phrases, possible technological learning curves, risk of mistranslation in high‐risk conversation and inability to check accuracy of translation. Fixed‐phrase translation apps were seen as more favourable than real‐time voice‐to‐voice mobile translation applications. Conclusions Older people from CALD backgrounds and healthcare staff were open to the use of mobile translation applications for everyday healthcare communications. Relevance to clinical practice Translation applications may have a role in reducing language barriers in everyday healthcare communication but context, accuracy and ease of use need to be considered.

Linguistic barriers and healthcare in China: Chaoshan vs. Mandarin

“…Recently, Internet and mobile apps have become popular translation aid among healthcare personnel and patients [ 32 , 36 ]. Although they could alleviate language barriers during low-risk clinical communications, they are not a suitable substitute for trained interpreters due to major concerns as to translation accuracy and cultural appropriateness [ 32 ].…”

Testing the use of translation apps to overcome everyday healthcare communication in Australian aged‐care hospital wards—An exploratory study

“…Despite this demand for interpreters exceeds supply (Ramsay et al, 2017), and ongoing demand for interpreters, the majority of day-to-day aspects of care is not feasible. Furthermore, some healthcare staff may not feel that they are not in a position to be able to request interpreters (Panayiotou et al, 2020).…”

“…Different to Google Translate's feature of "free-text" phrases, other language translation tools prefer "fixed-phrase translation" or "phrasalators" in order to avoid some of the pitfalls related to free translation without context (Panayiotou et al, 2020), and example of these include CALD Assist, Talk To Me and xPrompt.…”

“…When interpreters are not available, healthcare workers may "get-by", overcoming language barriers by using family members, bilingual staff members or resort to body language to communicate (Chang et al, 2019;Hilder et al, 2017;Panayiotou et al, 2020;Parsons et al, 2014). However, resorting to these methods always poses a risk (Chang et al, 2019;Nielsen et al, 2019), and using these methods to interpret is not appropriate and potentially against government and hospital interpreter and language policy.…”

“…The first stage involved a review of translation apps suitable for lowrisk healthcare communication (Panayiotou et al, 2019), and the second stage investigated the perceptions of language translation apps in older Greek and Chinese Australians, and healthcare workers (Panayiotou et al, 2020). This paper reports the third stage of a trial of three translation apps within aged-care hospital wards, to determine the acceptability and feasibility of using translation apps to overcome language barriers.…”