Interpreter-Mediated Healthcare Communication - Srikant Sarangi

Interpreter-Mediated Healthcare Communication - Srikant Sarangi

Managing Uncertainty in Healthcare Interpreter-mediated Interaction: On Rendering Question-answer Sequences

Interpreter-Mediated Healthcare Communication - Srikant Sarangi

Claudio Baraldi [+-]
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Claudio Baraldi is Professor of Sociology of cultural and communicative processes at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. His research includes studies on intercultural communication, interlinguistic and intercultural mediation, conflict management and the development of techniques of dialogue. He has published several papers on dialogue interpreting in books and international journals, many with Laura Gavioli. With Laura Gavioli, he has also edited the volume Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting (John Benjamins, 2012).
Laura Gavioli [+-]
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Laura Gavioli is Professor of English Language and Translation at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Her work includes the study of spoken language in institutional settings, corpus studies for language learning and translation and the pragmatics of English–Italian interaction. She has been engaged in research exploring authentic data of interpreter-mediated conversations involving speakers of English and Italian, mainly in healthcare settings. With Claudio Baraldi, she edited the volume Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting (John Benjamins, 2012).

Description

This paper analyses healthcare interactions involving doctors, migrant patients and ‘intercultural mediators’ who provide interpreting services. Our study is based on a collection of 300 interactions involving two language pairs, Arabic–Italian and English–Italian. The analytical framework includes conversation analysis combined with insights from social systems theory. We look at question-answer sequences, where (1) the doctors ask questions about patients’ problems or history, (2) the doctors’ questions are responded to and (3) the doctor closes the sequence, moving on to another question. We analyse the ways in which mediators help doctors design questions for patients and patients understand and eventually respond to the doctors’ design. While the doctor’s question design aims at obtaining details which are relevant for the patients’ care, it is argued that collecting such details involves complex interactional work. In particular, doctors need help in displaying their attention to their patients’ problems and in guiding patients’ responses into medically relevant directions. Likewise, patients need help in reacting appropriately. Mediators help manage communicative uncertainty both by showing the doctor’s interest in what the patient says, and by exploring and rendering the patient’s incomplete, extended and ambiguous answers to the doctor’s questions.

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Citation

Baraldi, Claudio; Gavioli, Laura. Managing Uncertainty in Healthcare Interpreter-mediated Interaction: On Rendering Question-answer Sequences. Interpreter-Mediated Healthcare Communication. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 69-95 Apr 2024. ISBN 9781845539030. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=44097. Date accessed: 29 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.44097. Apr 2024

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