Bilingual Interactions: Challenges Faced by Dental Providers and Interpreters

Objectives: The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the challenges and conflicts faced by dental providers and interpreters during bilingual pediatric dental encounters.
Methods: Six professional medical interpreters from 2 languages (Spanish and Nepali) that are commonly requested for interpretation at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and 11 pediatric dentists/residents were recruited to participate in a one-on-one semi-structured open-ended interview. Participants were asked about their experiences and challenges during bilingual pediatric dental visits. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data was analyzed via constant comparison to identify themes related to provider/interpreter interactions in a pediatric dental setting.

Results: Dental Providers identified instances of miscommunicationwith an interpreter,misunderstandings regarding each other’s role and boundaries, and at times, not knowing if the interpreter was interpreting correctly. Providers expressed loss of confidence in the interpreters’ ability to convey the information when the length of the conversation was altered during the interpretation (much shorter or at greater length than expected). They also indicated unknown norms for a specific culture was challenging during bilingual interactions. Interpreters identified instances where the flow of communicationwas interrupted by the dental provider, situations where a dental provider was not respectful to the patient, and occasions where patient/provider misunderstood each other, or the patient seemed confused. Interpreters also observed situations that a provider and a patient had significant cultural differences in their way of handling illness information.
Conclusions: Awareness of challenges associated with bilingual pediatric dental encounters and developing strategies to alleviate provider/interpreter conflicts will lead to better experiences for both groups, and ultimately benefit the patient.