USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Access to health service delivery for Hispanics: A communication issue.

SelectedWorks Author Profiles:

Alejandro Brice

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2000

ISSN

1994-2007

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to explicate the views of a Communication and language are at the core of all health service delivery. Methods: This Study examined vital components of the interactions between clients with health professionals (for example, speech-language pathologists, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, physicians). Communication involves language which is culturally bound and influenced. Thus, it is important to understand the role and significance of both language and communication in understanding and delivering clinical services. The Hispanic population is a multicultural group that is emerging as the largest in the US. The Hispanic population is projected to increase rapidly over the next 25 years accounting for 32 million Hispanics out of a total of 72 million persons added to the US population. Results: Language and communicative interaction can be a barrier to access to healthcare for many Hispanic patients. Other factors include the socioeconomic status of the individuals, educational achievement of the individuals, and the lack of minority health care professionals. This article discusses cultural factors that affect access to health care: (a) view of culture, (b) language, communication and culture, (c) culturally variability, (d) low context versus high context communication, (e) barriers to effective communication, (f) understanding families, (g) Resolving communication conflicts. Conclusions: This article summarizes changes in service delivery of health that serves as best practice considerations for those serving multicultural and multilingual populations.

Publisher

Riley Publications, Inc

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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