‘Look, wait, I’ll translate’: refugee women’s experiences with interpreters in healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand
Shemana Cassim
A * , Jacquie Kidd B , Madiha Ali A , Nur Abdul Hamid C , Dina Jamil D , Rawiri Keenan E , Fariya Begum C and Ross Lawrenson E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Te Ngira Institute for Population Research (formerly NIDEA), Division of Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand.
B School of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
C Independent Researcher, New Zealand.
D School of Life Sciences, La Trobe University, Australia.
E Medical Research Centre, Te Huataki Waiora School of Health, Division of Health, Engineering, Computing & Science, University of Waikato, New Zealand.
* Correspondence to: S.Cassim@massey.ac.nz
Australian Journal of Primary Health 28(4) 296-302 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY21256
Submitted: 2 August 2021 Accepted: 7 March 2022 Published: 9 May 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of La Trobe University. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
This study aimed to explore refugee women's experiences of interpreters in healthcare in Aotearoa, New Zealand (NZ). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine women who arrived in NZ as refugees. Analysis involved a ‘text in context’ approach. An iterative and interpretive process was employed by engaging with participant accounts and field notes. The various meanings behind participants' experiences were unpacked in relation to the literature and the broader socio-cultural contexts in which these experiences occurred. Findings highlighted issues with professional and informal interpreters. These issues included cost, discrepancies in dialect, translation outside appointments, and privacy. Findings indicate ethical and practical implications of using interpreters in healthcare for refugee women. A step to achieving equitable healthcare for refugee women in New Zealand entails putting in place accessible and robust communicative infrastructure.
Keywords: access, barrier, ethics, interpreter, language barrier, refugee, translator, women.
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