Video remote interpreting for home-based cognitive assessments

Abstract

Many health and social care services are implementing video remote interpreting (VRI) to deal with supply shortages and high costs of language interpreting for linguistically diverse clients. This qualitative study examines stakeholders’ perspectives on using VRI for home-based cognitive assessments, which are routinely performed with older people during aged care assessments in Australia. We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews with clients, assessors and interpreters in Melbourne and a regional Victorian city. We found that across stakeholder groups participants usually regard VRI as an acceptable alternative to face-to-face interpreting when the latter is not possible. Freelance interpreters said VRI saved on travel time and expenditure and afforded them financial and practical benefits that enabled them to better meet the high demand for their work. However, stakeholders also pointed to the limitations of VRI, including technical challenges, sound and video quality, and difficulties with positioning equipment optimally during interviews. The assessors and interpreters agreed that VRI was inappropriate when clients are known to be cognitively impaired, and that face-to-face interpreting is necessary to support these clients and ensure assessment accuracy. We suggest that plans by health or social care services to replace face-to-face interpreting with VRI should be balanced against the needs of clients and any impacts on professional practice.

Video-Mediated Interpreting

“…It is not certain whether the relatively high number of VMI articles in 2020 was related to COVID-19, given that none of these five articles mentioned the pandemic. In the years of 2021 and 2022, however, four of the six reviewed articles did use the expression "pandemic" and/or "COVID-19" in their main texts [10,11,19,22].…”

“…With respect to the second time issue, it was mainly found that the waiting time (i.e., the period after one has sent out a service request and before one can actually enjoy the service) was longer in VMI than on-site, although the waiting time was not significantly different between VMI and telephone interpreting (e.g., [11]). The longer waiting time in VMI was probably due to the time needed for setting up VMI facilities, especially when the camera used was fixed and all the other VMI facilities and people involved in the communication had to change their routine positions to suit the fixed camera [31].…”

“…Besides, in order to facilitate VMI, extra time may be needed for briefing all the parties at talk about technical issues (e.g., who is where) and about linguistic issues (e.g., the use of space in Australian sign language) [31]. Of note is that the relatively long waiting time in VMI tended to increase the stress of VMI users [11].…”

“…Another important topic of VMI research is financial cost of VMI and extra financial benefits that interpreters and/or users of interpreting service can obtain by using VMI instead of on-site or telephone interpreting, on which the relevant findings so far were comparatively consistent. According to the reviewed articles (e.g., [11,15]), VMI reduced overall financial cost for organizations (e.g., hospitals, police stations) that had a constant need of interpreting service and usually required the service to be available on short notice, although the capital cost for VMI devices could be expensive; to interpreters, as VMI saved travel distance and travel time, this interpreting mode could help them not only save the financial cost for travelling, but also better meet the high demand in interpreting work and thus get more financial benefits; to individuals who needed interpreting service (e.g., a patient who was a sign language user and had to communicate with a healthcare provider who did not know the sign language), VMI was less expensive than on-site interpreting. Even in some cases where VMI was more expensive than telephone interpreting, patients were still more willing to use VMI since it provided more visual information than telephone interpreting, which is important in communication.…”

The impact of training on communication quality during interpreter‐mediated cognitive assessments: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“… 27 While hospitals in Australia often use specialized health‐care interpreters of the widely spoken languages in their geographical location, other dementia‐related services typically rely on community interpreters who are less likely to have specialized skills or training. 11 , 28 Latter services include Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT), primary and community health providers, and aged care services. These services conduct dementia screenings for a variety of purposes, and depending on their geographical area, may work with large numbers of LEP patients/clients.…”