“They really trust us!”: medical interpreter’s roles and experiences in an integrated primary care clinic

ABSTRACT

This study describes medical interpreters’ experiences with behavioral health (BH) services in a primary care clinic. Focus group data with medical interpreters representing multiple languages was analyzed using hybrid inductive-deductive thematic analysis. Themes related to interpreter roles were: (1) case management, (2) patient-interpreter relationship, and (3) patient-provider liaison. Themes related to barriers and facilitators to interpreter-mediated BH care were: (1) cultural factors, (2) patient-provider interactions, (3) BH-specific considerations, and (4) clinic factors. Results illustrate ways that interpreters directly (e.g. interpreter-mediated services) and indirectly (e.g. relationship building) support care. The interpreter-patient relationship reportedly helped improve patient attitudes and buy-in for BH.

KEYWORDS:

• Behavioral health services
• behavioral health-primary care integration
• limited English proficiency
• medical interpreters

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke under Grant 1R61AG081034-01 to A.M.V and C.R.; the National Institute on Aging under Grants 3R61AG081034-01S1 to K.M. and K23AG078410 to E.P.; and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health under Grants K24AT011760 to A.M.V, K23AT010653-01A1 to J.G., K23AT012487 to A.M.P., and R34AT009356-01A1 to A.M.V.

Disclosure statement

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

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2024.2379455.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Institute on Aging [1R61AG081034-01].