CALD Assist translation app

Purpose #

A mobile healthcare translation app used by ward staff to communicate low-risk, everyday care messages to older CALD patients with limited English proficiency when a professional interpreter is not available or feasible.

"CALD Assist is a translation app developed by Western Health in Melbourne (Silvera-­Tawil et al., 2018)" (Hwang, 2022, p. 580)

Mechanism #

Works like a phrasebook (a "fixed-phrase translation" / "phrasalator" design): a curated set of pre-translated healthcare phrases that can be played audibly in the target language or shown as translated text or pictures. Only low-risk phrases are included; it does not perform free-text translation and translates in a single direction, so it cannot render a patient's spoken response.

"Both translation apps work like a phrasebook, with a selection of carefully chosen healthcare-­related phrases translated to a target language. The phrases can be audibly played in the target language, or visually observed through translated text or pictures." (Hwang, 2022, p. 580)

Example(s) of usage #

Trialed on aged-care hospital wards for tasks such as identifying pain and assisting toileting: e.g. "Patient eventually sat down and responded positively by complying through use of app and hand gestures. Toileting with assistance was allowed by patient." (Observer, site 1, CALD Assist). It accounted for 10 of the 21 analyzed observations.

Other Notes #

Selected, alongside Talk To Me, on the basis of an earlier scoping study identifying its suitability for conveying low-risk conversations (Panayiotou et al., 2019).