When roles within interpreter-mediated psychiatric consultations speak louder than words

Abstract results

Each result the abstract reports — is it captured as evidence?

• Data were collected during 2010 at a public psychiatric hospital in the Western Cape, South Africa.

  Covered Promote Not a result

• Thirteen interpreter-mediated psychiatric consultations were video-recorded, and 18 audio-recorded semi-structured interviews were conducted with the interpreters and clinicians who participated in the interpreter-mediated psychiatric consultations.

  Covered Promote Not a result

• Patients were proficient in isiXhosa (one of the 11 official languages of South Africa), the clinicians (all registrars) were first language English or Afrikaans speakers, while the health care workers (nurses and social workers) and cleaners were fluent in both the patients' and clinician's language.

  Covered Promote Not a result

Tables & figures

Map each object to the evidence it grounds (one object can ground several), add anything missed, or flag a gap.

• Table 1 — Study participants’ official occupation and sex.

  p3
  • Ad hoc interpreters acted as gatekeepers, answering on patients' behalf and controlling what reached the clinician
  • As clinician and ad hoc interpreter negotiated roles, the patient's voice was lost in interpreter-mediated psychiatric consultations
  • In cultural-broker role, ad hoc interpreters' own interpretations took precedence, risking dilution of the patient's explanatory model
  • Time constraints led ad hoc interpreters to pressure psychiatric patients into short answers, cutting off their narratives
  Add evidence Flag gap Nothing to capture