Social Work With Interpreters in the Disability Sector: Developing Practice Principles

ABSTRACT

This study explored social workers’ experiences of working with professional language interpreters in the disability sector with the goal of developing guiding principles for practice. Despite clients from diverse backgrounds increasingly accessing disability services, interpreter-mediated social work in the disability service context is an under-researched field. Six social workers participated in semistructured interviews. Findings suggest that social work with interpreters is a field of practice comprising practical and interactional challenges, requiring a high degree of professional discretion to optimise client outcomes. Emerging from the research are potential guiding principles for practice emphasising training, adaptability, interprofessional collaboration, person-centredness, and reflexivity.

IMPLICATIONS

• Interpreter-mediated social work in the disability sector presents unique challenges as a practice context.

• Interpreter-mediated social work is characterised by a complex professional inter-culture, requiring social workers and interpreters to mediate professional power and role negotiation to achieve effective service delivery.

• Guiding principles for practice may emphasise training, adaptability, interprofessional collaboration, person-centredness, and reflexivity.

KEYWORDS:

• Social Work
• Disability
• Interpreter
• Interprofessional Practice
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Interprofessional Power
• Cultural Factors
• Professional Training
• Patient Care
• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Clients
• People With a Hearing Disability
• Deaf Clients
• Non-English Speaking Clients
• Australia

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).