Abstract
The Gauteng healthcare setting embodies a blend of multi-cultural, multi-lingual patients and healthcare providers. Effective communication between patients and radiographers is essential in order to limit radiation exposure while still obtaining optimal diagnostic images. Difficulty in effective communication has a deleterious effect on the quality of care and can compromise access to healthcare, comprehension of and adherence to instructions. With eleven official languages South Africans experience language barriers amongst themselves which pose unique communication challenges on a daily basis. It is thus important to explore how radiographers experience and overcome such challenges in order to provide an effective service to their patients. The aim of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore and describe the experiences of radiographers communicating with patients in a multi-cultural, multilingual healthcare setting in Gauteng. The following objectives were formulated to achieve the aim of this study: 1. To explore and describe the experiences of radiographers when communicating with patients in a multi-lingual multi-cultural healthcare setting. 2. To formulate guidelines based on the participants responses in order to facilitate effective communication between radiographers and their patients inclusive of cultural and language differences. Data collection was undertaken using focus group interviews with the central question being “How do you experience communication with patients from different cultural and lingual backgrounds?”. A total of 18 information rich radiographers with varying years of experience in the private and public diagnostic radiography departments were invited to participate in this study through purposive snowball sampling. The data was then analysed using content analysis. The participants’ experiences were then organized into three themes: barriers to communication, the interactions resulting when these barriers occur and methods to overcome communication barriers. From these themes, recommendations and guidelines were then developed in order to help facilitate effective multi-cultural communication between patient and radiographers.
M.Tech. (Radiography)