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General practice / Family practice
Research
Involving migrants in the development of guidelines for communication in cross-cultural general practice consultations: a participatory learning and action research project
  1. Mary O'Reilly-de Brún1,
  2. Anne MacFarlane2,
  3. Tomas de Brún1,
  4. Ekaterina Okonkwo1,3,
  5. Jean Samuel Bonsenge Bokanga1,
  6. Maria Manuela De Almeida Silva1,4,
  7. Florence Ogbebor1,
  8. Aga Mierzejewska1,
  9. Lovina Nnadi1,
  10. Maria van den Muijsenbergh5,
  11. Evelyn van Weel-Baumgarten5,
  12. Chris van Weel5,6
  1. 1National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
  2. 2University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
  3. 3Galway Migrant Service, Galway, Ireland
  4. 4Portuguese Association of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
  5. 5Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Radboud University, the Netherlands
  6. 6Australian National University, Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, Canberra, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Professor Anne MacFarlane; Anne.macfarlane{at}ul.ie

Abstract

Objective The aim of this research was to involve migrants and other key stakeholders in a participatory dialogue to develop a guideline for enhancing communication in cross-cultural general practice consultations. In this paper, we focus on findings about the use of formal versus informal interpreters because dialogues about these issues emerged as central to the identification of recommendations for best practice.

Design This qualitative case study involved a Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) research methodology.

Participants The sample comprised 80 stakeholders: 51 from migrant communities; 15 general practitioners (GPs) and general practice staff; 7 established migrants as peer researchers; 5 formal, trained interpreters; and 2 service planners from the national health authority.

Setting Galway, Ireland.

Results There was 100% consensus across stakeholder groups that while informal interpreters have uses for migrants and general practice staff, they are not considered acceptable as best practice. There was also 100% consensus that formal interpreters who are trained and working as per a professional code of practice are acceptable as best practice.

Conclusions Policymakers and service planners need to work in partnership with service providers and migrants to progress the implementation of professional, trained interpreters as a routine way of working in general practice.

  • QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
  • PRIMARY CARE
  • SOCIAL MEDICINE

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007092

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