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ABSTRACT
This article analyzes the outcomes of the first medical interpreter vocational training course for Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel. Our study draws on the work of Phyllis Butow et al. on medical interpreters’ perceptions of their role, including the challenges they face; on Elena Ragazzi’s call for a flexible evaluation of vocational training outcomes; and on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of “cultural capital” as an empowering tool for change. The course was initiated in 2013 in response to difficulties experienced by medical personnel and Eritrean asylum seekers regarding the provision of health services for refugees. The outcomes of the course led to four main conclusions: (1) it was a positive learning endeavor that led graduates to better jobs; (2) it was an empowering experience that enabled graduates to better care for themselves and their loved ones, and enhanced their understanding of their rights as asylum seekers; (3) it was perceived as a project of inclusion that created a safe and reassuring environment within the otherwise hostile reality of state-orchestrated exclusion, yet it also induced a sense of frustration in that it had no impact on the unjust social structure in which the asylum seekers live; and (4) the course was helpful in developing the graduates’ understanding of their complex role as medical interpreters.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the participants of the first medical interpreter’s vocational training course for taking the time to share their insights with us. The course was funded by the Sheba Medical Center, UNHCR Israel, and the Department of African Studies, Tel Aviv University. The research itself was not funded. We also wish to thank Dr. Yonatan Gez for his help in the data collection stage.
Notes
1. Butow et al., “Bridge between Cultures”; Ragazzi, “Effectiveness Evaluation of Training Programmes”; Bourdieu, Distinction.
2. ARDC, “Refugees in Israel.”
3. Hotline for Migrants and Refugees Report, “Tortured in Sinai, Jailed in Israel.”
4. Sabar and Tsurkov, “Israel’s Policies toward Asylum-Seekers.”
5. Natan, Effect of Non-documented Migrant Workers.
6. ARDC, “Refugees in Israel.”
7. Kritzman-Amir, Bernman, and Berman, “Responsibility, Sharing and the Rights of Refugees”; Natan, Effect of Non-documented Migrant Workers.
8. Sabar and Tsurkov, “Israel’s Policies toward Asylum-Seekers.”
9. Asgary and Segar, “Barriers to Health Care Access”; Choi et al., “Understanding Service Needs”; Clinton-Davis and Fassil, “Health and Social Problems of Refugees”; Munro et al., “Undocumented Pregnant Women”; Smith, “Health Care for Refugees.”
10. Ascoly, Van Halsema, and Keysers, “Refugee Women”; Correa-Valez and Ryan “Developing a Best Practice Model”; Johnson, Ziersch, and Burgess, “I Don’t Think General Practice”; Szjana and Ward, “Access to Health Care.”
11. Joshi et al., “A Narrative Synthesis”; Michaan et al., “Perinatal Outcome and Financial Impact.”
12. Bernstein et al., “Trained Medical Interpreters”; Carrasquillo et al., “Impact of Language Barriers”; Shlesinger, “Healthcare Interpreting.”
13. Hampers and McNulty, “Professional Interpreters and Bilingual Physicians.”
14. Berenstein et al., “Trained Medical Interpreters”; Woloshin et al., “Language Barriers in Medicine.”
15. Phillips, “Remote Telephone Interpretation”; Pöchhacker and Shlesinger, Healthcare Interpreting.
16. Burki, “Israeli Clinic Provides Lifeline”; Tenenboim, “Medical Services to Status-less People.”
17. Gottlieb, Filc, and Davidovitch, “Medical Humanitarianism.”
18. Nakash et al., “Effect of Acculturation and Discrimination”; Nakash et al., “Association between Acculturation Patterns and Mental Health.”
19. Gottlieb et al., “Medical Humanitarianism.”
20. Tenenboim, “Medical Services to Status-less People.”
21. Crisp, Talbot, and Cipollone, Learning for a Future; Sella, “Enhancing Vocational Training Effectiveness”; Sohn, “Educational Participation of Adult Immigrants”; Tjaden, Migrants and Vocational Education.
22. CEEDR, Young Entrepreneurs; Nightingale, “Challenges in the Land of Hope.”
23. Field et al., “Skills Beyond School Review,” in their study of migrants in Denmark; and Povrzanović Frykman, “Struggle for Recognition,” in her study of Bosnia-Herzogovina asylum seekers in Sweden; He and Zuo, “Investigation on the Status Quo.”
24. Ragazzi, “Effectiveness Evaluation of Training Programmes”; Sella, “Enhancing Vocational Training Effectiveness.”
25. Mamgain and Collins, “Off the Boat.”
26. Mezirow, “Transformative Learning.”
27. CEDEOP/EU, Report: Employment-related Mobility; Dahlsted and Bevelander, “General Versus Vocational Education”; Moser, “Re-imagining Portland Maine.”
28. Nightingale, “Challenges in the Land of Hope.”
29. Dysart-Gale, “Clinicians and Medical Interpreters.”
30. Battistin and Rettore, “Testing for Programme Effects”; Bellio and Gori, “Impact Evaluation of Job Training.”
31. Nightingale, “Challenges in the Land of Hope”; Salinas and Müller, Good Practice Guide.
32. Kluve, “Effectiveness of European”; Friedlander, Greenberg, and Robins, “Evaluating Government Training Programs”; Heckman, Lalonde and Smith, “Economics and Econometrics.”
33. Guilherme Fernandes, “(Dis)Empowering New Immigrants.”
34. Scrinzi, “Gender, Migration.”
35. CEC, Course list. https://cectlv.wordpress.com/; School House Reports, http://www.schoolhouse.org.il/#!-about/citr.
36. IMIA. Medical Interpreting Standards of Practice.
37. Interviews were held mainly in cafes in southern Tel Aviv in the year 2014-2015. Two interviews were held in Jerusalem and one was held over Skype with the participant who had left Israel. All interviews, except for one, were audio-recorded and transcribed and all were systematically analyzed for themes.
38. Strauss and Corbin, Basics of Qualitative Research.
39. Since our last insight is similar to Yonatan Gez and Michal Schuster’s findings in “Borders and Boundaries: Eritrean Graduates Reflect on their Medical Interpreting Training,” included in the Special Issue, we decided not to elaborate on this theme.
40. UNESCO, “Toward Knowledge Societies.”
41. He and Zuo, “Investigation on the Status Quo.”
42. Aferiat, Good Practice Guide.
43. Bandura, “Self-efficacy.”
44. Mezirow, “Transformative Learning”; Bourdieu, Distinction.
45. Aferiat, Good Practice Guide; Guilherme Fernandes, “(Dis)Empowering New Immigrants”; Malkki, “Speechless Emissaries.”
46. Allen, “‘Sometimes it’s Hard.’”
47. Battistin and Rettore, “Testing for Programme Effects”; Bellio and Gori, “Impact Evaluation of Job Training.”
48. Guilherme Fernandes, “(Dis)Empowering New Immigrants.”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Galia Sabar
Galia Sabar, PhD, former Chair of African Studies at Tel Aviv University, is President of the Ruppin Academic Center, Israel. An expert on African migration studies and social activist, she has published six books and dozens of articles on the subject.
Shiri Tenenboim
Shiri Tenenboim, MD, MPH, is an oncologist, founder of the Social Clinic at the Sheba Medical Center, Israel, and a social activist. The clinic provides medical services to uninsured people, including asylum seekers.