Working with British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters: lessons from child and adolescent mental health services in the U.K.

ABSTRACT

Background: Having good access to information is crucial when attending an appointment with a health professional; for 5% of the world’s population, who have some degree of hearing loss, this is challenging. With the introduction of acts against discrimination in the U.K., there is a responsibility to provide equitable access to services; best practice states that professionals should work with a registered British Sign Language Interpreter. In child and adolescent mental health services, practitioners may work with the deaf child/young person and their families; this presents many challenges. Previous models of interpreting do not lend themselves to this setting; interpreters need to have high levels of language and two-way interpreting skills, imparting detailed information about language and communication demands they face.

Method: The role of the interpreter in the team was audited at two time points using an activity recording sheet; this is integrated with available literature and our clinical expertise.

Results: Based on iterative audits and expert panels to discuss good practice, we have formulated a helpful way of working with interpreters. To enable robust assessments and therapeutic interventions, clinicians and interpreters are required to co-work. We discuss our experiences of helpful practices when working with interpreters including the importance of pre-appointment meetings, co-working during sessions, and debriefing.

Conclusion: We make recommendations for working with deaf children/young people, improving communication with them and their families, and their experience of services, all of which could potentially improve outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Interpreters
• child mental health
• deafness
• healthcare communication
• deaf children
• sign language
• health services accessibility

Ethical approval

Ethics approval was not deemed necessary as the audit occurred in the context of usual working practices. No family members have been named in this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Acknowledgement

Thanks to Anya Knight for completing the audit. Thanks to Tim Richardson and Jenny Sweetman for their comments on an earlier version of this work, and to Catherine Arthurson for her secretarial support.

Notes on contributors

Vicci Ackroyd is a registered qualified BSL/English Interpreter and has a wealth of experience working as a community interpreter and with deaf CAMHS, working with deaf children and their families since 2008.

Barry Wright is a Professor of Child Mental Health and Clinical Lead of the National Deaf Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. He has worked as a consultant since 1995 and with deaf children in the NDCAMHS since 2004.

ORCID

Vicci Ackroyd http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6449-2214

Barry Wright http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8692-6001