Participants were cautious about translation accuracy and viewed apps as unsuitable for complex or important communication

Description #

Both healthcare staff and older CALD participants raised concerns about the accuracy of mobile translation and judged the apps unsuitable for complex or high-risk clinical communication. Staff were cautious about accuracy (especially across dialects) and questioned app suitability for important conversations; an older participant recounted being confused rather than helped when translating a complex medical report.

"Staff also identified that technology could help to build rapport with patients and help both parties learn a few keywords in the other person's language, but were cautious regarding the accuracy of language translation technology, particularly for different language dialects. They also questioned the suitability of translation apps for complex or important communication." (Panayiotou, 2020, p. 3521)

"A [medical] report was sent to me, I used my device to translate it. I got more confused as it didn't make sense. I did not want to bother my children. The words used are even difficult for my children." (Panayiotou, 2020, p. 3521, participant from Greek community consultation)

Methods Context #

What? #ⓘ

The observable: participants' perceived concerns about translation accuracy and the appropriateness of apps for complex or high-risk healthcare conversations.

"Can you think of any barriers that could prevent the use of technology being helpful for communicating everyday healthcare conversations?" (Panayiotou, 2020, p. 3518)

How? #ⓘ

Focus group discussion (semi-structured questions on barriers) plus open-ended survey responses, analysed with inductive content analysis; apps were experienced first-hand during appraisal.

"We used inductive content analysis (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008) to analyse the qualitative data from the focus groups and open-ended questions." (Panayiotou, 2020, p. 3519)

Who? #ⓘ

Older Greek and Chinese CALD community members (n = 12) and nursing/allied health staff (n = 17) in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.

"The nursing and allied health staff were recruited from three large public hospitals in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia." (Panayiotou, 2020, p. 3518)

Other Notes #

Qualitative barrier finding; no associated figure/table (text-only). This limitation is the counterpoint to the general acceptability finding and motivates positioning apps as an adjunct for low-risk conversation only.

Caveats #

• Small non-representative convenience sample from two migrant communities and sub-acute aged-care staff limits generalizability The perception findings come from a small convenience sample drawn from only two older migrant communities (Greek and Chinese, n = 12), recruited through ethno-specific organisations, plus nursing/allied-health staff (n = 17) working only in sub-acute aged-care settings. The authors note this limits generalisability to other migrant communities and other areas of health care, and that the small samples precluded evaluating differences between cultural groups or professions. Perceptions are therefore contextual to these groups and settings rather than broadly representative.