Multilingual competence is based on the ability to understand, express and interpret concepts, thoughts, feelings, facts and opinions in both oral and written form (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in an appropriate range of societal and cultural contexts according to individual wants or needs.1
Linguistic competence involves more than having bilingual staff; it refers to the ability to communicate with a variety of different cultural groups, including people with low literacy, non-English speakers, and those with disabilities.
We must highlight the importance of "multilingual competence" as a barrier immigrants face (aside from the cost of care, societal stigma, and the fragmented organization of services) when seeking and receiving health care and/or treatment. Additional barriers include clinicians’ lack of awareness of cultural issues, bias, or inability to speak the client’s language, and the client’s fear and mistrust of treatment.
Communication between patients and clinicians is critical when it comes to complying with treatment protocols, adhering to medication and medical treatment. Research shows that access to these health services may be influenced by barriers including, poor quality of health care, (limited access to clinicians that are culturally competent), and cultural matching (limited access to work with minority clinicians).
Since English is my second language I have been in ESL classes during my years at elementary school. I believe that this type of resource has been very beneficial for students, however I would hope that it would be more accessible for older adults. I thoroughly understand that there are public schools in the city (more specifically, NYC) that offer free ESL classes for adults, however I think that there should be an initiative taken to teach an ESL class based on health literacy terms and comprehension.
Also, incorporating a survey at the end with both open and close ended questions can help providers understand the amount of health education received, level of health treatment received, occupational health experience, experience in public health research and reading level by the population receiving ESL. Age, primary language, citizenship status, gender, self-identified ethnicity, marital status and geographic area of participants are important variables in the selection of participants as well, to gage how to efficiently target different demographic populations and their subgroups.
To attain efficient health literacy comprehension amongst the public, policy makers and leaders outside of the health sector must be aware of the critical elements that contribute to health illiteracy.
Framing such issues with graphics and visuals can mobilize forces from those outside the traditional health policy to truly develop health, ultimately affecting the social, economic and environmental determinants of health.
I believe all our hospitals and medical institutions should have physicians who can translate written and verbal medical information in at least 2-3 different languages; it is necessary and should be easier to do since we are living in the digital world now.
Its funny how we all assume English is the dominant language here in the US, but did you know that the US doesn’t have an official language? (Which emphasizes my point)
References:
Multilingual competence / multilingual skills / multilingualism. CEDEFOP. (2023, November 8). https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/vet-glossary/glossary/meertalige-vaardigheden
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