Tongue-tied in Singapore : communication challenges faced by Tamil-speaking elderly in local healthcare settings

Language barriers hinder patients with Limited-English-Proficiency from attaining high-quality healthcare services, which in turn undermines the healthcare quality of a country. To minimize the language barriers, professional interpreters are hired in healthcare settings. However, in Singapore, untr...

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Main Author: Nasronnissa Abdul Ja'afar
Other Authors: Francis C. K. Wong
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73494
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-734942019-12-10T10:54:14Z Tongue-tied in Singapore : communication challenges faced by Tamil-speaking elderly in local healthcare settings Nasronnissa Abdul Ja'afar Francis C. K. Wong School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Humanities Language barriers hinder patients with Limited-English-Proficiency from attaining high-quality healthcare services, which in turn undermines the healthcare quality of a country. To minimize the language barriers, professional interpreters are hired in healthcare settings. However, in Singapore, untrained interpreters such as family members and healthcare staff aid with the translations for elderly patients with LEP. Thus, this paper aims to uncover the language barriers faced by Tamil-speaking elderly and the effectiveness of the current interpretation service in the local healthcare setting. Through a qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews, 5 elderly and 5 family members of these elderly were interviewed. Based on the results it was discovered that the Tamil-speaking elderly feel tongue-tied in local healthcare settings thus they are over-reliant on the untrained interpreters and on their own memory to counter any language barriers faced. In addition, the results revealed that the interpretations provided by the untrained interpreters are seen as ineffective and inadequate in meeting their demands, resulting in dissatisfaction with the service provided, affecting the quality of healthcare service provided. Taken together, the findings indicate the need to prepare well-trained professional interpreters to provide quality patient care, which would improve the quality of medical care provided in Singapore. Bachelor of Arts 2018-03-22T05:20:49Z 2018-03-22T05:20:49Z 2018 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73494 en Nanyang Technological University 67 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Humanities
spellingShingle DRNTU::Humanities
Nasronnissa Abdul Ja'afar
Tongue-tied in Singapore : communication challenges faced by Tamil-speaking elderly in local healthcare settings
description Language barriers hinder patients with Limited-English-Proficiency from attaining high-quality healthcare services, which in turn undermines the healthcare quality of a country. To minimize the language barriers, professional interpreters are hired in healthcare settings. However, in Singapore, untrained interpreters such as family members and healthcare staff aid with the translations for elderly patients with LEP. Thus, this paper aims to uncover the language barriers faced by Tamil-speaking elderly and the effectiveness of the current interpretation service in the local healthcare setting. Through a qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews, 5 elderly and 5 family members of these elderly were interviewed. Based on the results it was discovered that the Tamil-speaking elderly feel tongue-tied in local healthcare settings thus they are over-reliant on the untrained interpreters and on their own memory to counter any language barriers faced. In addition, the results revealed that the interpretations provided by the untrained interpreters are seen as ineffective and inadequate in meeting their demands, resulting in dissatisfaction with the service provided, affecting the quality of healthcare service provided. Taken together, the findings indicate the need to prepare well-trained professional interpreters to provide quality patient care, which would improve the quality of medical care provided in Singapore.
author2 Francis C. K. Wong
author_facet Francis C. K. Wong
Nasronnissa Abdul Ja'afar
format Final Year Project
author Nasronnissa Abdul Ja'afar
author_sort Nasronnissa Abdul Ja'afar
title Tongue-tied in Singapore : communication challenges faced by Tamil-speaking elderly in local healthcare settings
title_short Tongue-tied in Singapore : communication challenges faced by Tamil-speaking elderly in local healthcare settings
title_full Tongue-tied in Singapore : communication challenges faced by Tamil-speaking elderly in local healthcare settings
title_fullStr Tongue-tied in Singapore : communication challenges faced by Tamil-speaking elderly in local healthcare settings
title_full_unstemmed Tongue-tied in Singapore : communication challenges faced by Tamil-speaking elderly in local healthcare settings
title_sort tongue-tied in singapore : communication challenges faced by tamil-speaking elderly in local healthcare settings
publishDate 2018
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73494
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