Abstract
South Africa is a multilingual society and therefore the likelihood of healthcare professionals, including homoeopathy Master’s students, encountering language barriers with patients is high. Language barriers between healthcare professionals and patients have a negative influence on the healthcare that the patients receive. There is no training in the current syllabus for MTech Homoeopathy students at the University of Johannesburg that teaches an additional language nor one that teaches the students how to better handle encounters with patients where a language barrier exists between them.
The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the students’ experiences of language barriers in the delivery of healthcare, and to provide guidance towards overcoming language barriers in homoeopathic practice.
This study design was qualitative in nature with a phenomenological approach. Individual interviews were conducted with registered homoeopathy Master’s students from the University of Johannesburg and followed later by a focus group. The central question: “What has your experience been regarding language barriers between you and your patients at the UJ Homoeopathy clinics?” was asked and responses recorded and transcribed for later analysis.
Four themes emerged from participants’ experiences. Theme one described how language barriers create challenges in understanding between patients and participants. Theme two describes the intrapersonal and interpersonal effects that are associated with language barriers. Theme three describes language barriers’ influence on the various aspects of the healthcare process. Finally, theme four describes the mitigation of language barriers through various strategies as described by participants. Participants reported finding language barriers challenging which in turn result in negative effects on the various aspects of the healthcare process, as well as on the practitioner’s personal feelings and the patient-practitioner relationship. Participants also reported employing certain self-developed strategies in an attempt to mitigate the negative effect of the language barrier in the delivery of healthcare.
Recommendations were made for Homoeopathic students, the Homoeopathic syllabus, and for future researchers. Homoeopathic students should practice with an awareness of the role language barriers play in their practice and employ strategies to aid in the mitigation thereof...
M.Tech. (Homoeopathy)