This paper analyses interpreting activities performed by intercultural mediators in Italian healthcare services. It proposes a reflection on the type of professionalism that seems to be required in healthcare institutions where the issue of dealing with cultural differences between the patients and the operators is considered of fundamental importance. Our analysis shows that mediators address cultural differences along the lines of one of two orientations. The first treats cultural differences as a plurality of options, thus enhancing patients’ active participation and choice. The second is based on cultural essentialism and treats differences in terms of dos and don’ts, preventing interlocutors’ active participation. We suggest that in order to accomplish the task of dealing with cultural differences “professionally” in healthcare interaction, mediators and interpreters alike may be made aware of the advantages and risks involved in taking each of these two orientations.
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2007“Cultural Diversity in Patient Participation: The Influence of Patients’ Characteristics and Doctors’ Communicative Behaviour”. Patient Education and Counseling 67. 214–223.
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1998Interpreting as Interaction. London: Longman.
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Cited by 9 other publications
Baraldi, Claudio
2021. Studying Hybrid Identities in Schools: Notes on a European Project. Studia Migracyjne – Przegląd Polonijny 47:4 (182) ► pp. 25 ff.
Baraldi, Claudio & Laura Gavioli
2020. Patients’ Initiatives and the Achievement of Medical Compliance in Talk with Migrant Patients and with(out) Interpreting Aid. In Multilingual Healthcare [FOM-Edition, ], ► pp. 39 ff.
Bigi, Sarah & Maria Grazia Rossi
2020. Considering Mono- and Multilingual Interactions on a Continuum: An Analysis of Interactions in Medical Settings. In Multilingual Healthcare [FOM-Edition, ], ► pp. 11 ff.
2021. Reflections on Doctor Question – Patient Answer Sequences and on Lay Perceptions of Close Translation. Health Communication 36:9 ► pp. 1080 ff.
Lee, Jieun
2021. Supporting the social integration of migrant women in South Korea through language services: Roles of marriage migrant interpreters in multicultural family support centre counselling services. The Translator 27:1 ► pp. 57 ff.
Watermeyer, Jennifer, Zamokuhle Thwala & Johanna Beukes
2021. Medical Terminology in Intercultural Health Interactions. Health Communication 36:9 ► pp. 1115 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
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