A medical interpreter\u2019s job is to help patients and their care providers communicate. Patients and doctors with a language barrier need interpreters\u2019 help to speak about symptoms, treatment options, insurance, and more.<\/p>\n
But the job can take a toll, especially on the people who translate for pediatric patients and their families. That is the central component of Josie Carballido\u2019s research.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to prove that pediatric medical interpreters are experiencing distress because of their work,\u201d she said. \u201cThen we want to get to the bottom of what kinds of factors are causing it. How are they coping with it? And what can the hospital do to help interpreters with their mental health?\u201d<\/p>\n
Carballido, who is set to graduate in May, is a psychology major and a student researcher. Last week, she presented her work at 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Undergraduate Research Symposium, which highlights the efforts of the university\u2019s many student researchers across each school and college.<\/p>\n
Carballido has been involved in research since her first year at 51ÁÔÆæ when psychology professor W. Hobart Davies asked her to join his lab. For this project, she\u2019s also worked with Amy Olen, an assistant professor of Translation and Interpreting Studies. The overall project is led by psychology PhD student Paulina Lim.<\/p>\n
Together, the team has interviewed 13 Spanish-to-English pediatric medical interpreters from children\u2019s hospitals in Wisconsin, asking them a series of questions about their work, stress, and coping mechanisms. Carballido\u2019s job was to transcribe each interview and then analyze the responses for common themes.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big thing that we\u2019re finding was that the majority of staff interpreters are receiving some sort of emotional wellness training, but \u2026 it seems to be just a one-time traumainformed care training, and then that\u2019s it. A lot of the contracted (interpreters) don\u2019t get that training,\u201d Carballido said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also have looked a lot at what kind of factors are making interpreters more distressed in an encounter. If they\u2019re in something like an ICU or NICU, or dealing with abuse or end-of-life care, those make it lot harder than something like interpreting in the Ear, Nose, and Throat clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other stressful factors include whether the interpreter personally identifies with their patient or family \u2013 if they have had a family member with a similar medical problem, for example, or if they have a child the same age as the patient.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s evidence that (interpreters) experienced secondary traumatic stress,\u201d Carballido said. \u201cWhen they are witnessing a patient and their trauma and their stress, then they can internalize that as well, and it can traumatize (the interpreter) too. There seems to be a lot of that when they\u2019re working in intense situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, Carballido said, the nature of the job is stressful: interpreters are not supposed to be emotional as they translate for their clients. Even in a sad or traumatic situation, they are expected to remain unaffected and faithfully interpret messages between the patients and care providers.<\/p>\n
In the interviews, interpreters detailed a number of coping mechanisms that they developed to help them deal with the stress of their job, but by far, Carballido said, the most frequent and effective coping method was talking through bad situations with their colleagues.<\/p>\n
But that came with its own set of problems.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Interpreters) feel like HIPAA is a barrier to them being able to talk to each other,\u201d Carballido noted.<\/p>\n
HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, mandates that health care providers protect their patients\u2019 medical and identifying information. Carballido has found that interpreters are unsure if sharing details about their jobs with their colleagues violates that mandate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been finding that with HIPAA, as long as you are not using identifiers like names, you can share things with each other,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m looking at implementing some sort of training program, like continuing education, regarding HIPAA. (I\u2019m also interested in) encouraging interpreters to speak with each other, setting up support groups for them, or setting up a peer mentor program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carballido has worked on a manuscript detailing the group\u2019s findings, which has been submitted for publication. She\u2019s also expanded on this research for her senior thesis.<\/p>\n
The research is important, she added, because it\u2019s never been done before. While some psychologists have previously studied the emotional toll of medical interpretation, no one has studied how pediatric medical interpreters are impacted by their jobs. Carballido hopes that her work can help shed light on the problem and bring attention to possible solutions.<\/p>\n