Wokeyi

Language barriers present a significant challenge to providing effective healthcare treatment for patients who have limited English proficiency. This issue lead to patients becoming passive participants in their treatments, increases the likelihood of errors in assessments and medications, and creates difficulties in follow-up care. Despite the clear need for interpreting services in healthcare settings, only slightly more than a quarter of patients currently receive such services.

This project was inspired by my grandpa's hospitalisation, where language barriers posed a significant issue. Doctors frequently called me for translation, but communicating over the phone was difficult due to my grandpa's hearing impairments. This made him feel powerless and passive in his treatment. He didn't know what medications he was taking, and doctors made all decisions, leading to frustration and non-compliance.

1. Voice-to-voice translation makes translation easier and quicker for users in cases of emergency

2. Using Fixed terms and pictorial cards, a familiarised form of communication in healthcare practices, will enhance accessibility and usability

Australia is a diverse country. Large proportion of population struggle to speak English fluently and the number are significantly higher in elderly communities. Despite that many of the adverse events in healthcare were due to language barriers, some health practices would avoid using professional interpreters due to the inconveniences, funding problems and lack of ethic.

To collect feedbacks and experiences of LEP patients in hospital environments, secondary qualitative research was used. Majority of the patients expressed the adverse events in healthcare were due to language barriers. Language barriers can also impact the social relationship between health staff and patients which can reduces treatment adherence.

Based on this, we found that in healthcare, there are preference in using ad-hoc interpreters like family and friends. Gestural communication were also often used accompanied by verbal. Furthermore, language barrier in healthcare may result in patients:

feeling overwhelmed in a environment where they’re unfamiliar with.

feeling rejected and passive when they can’t be voiced

Frustration and upset being not understood. Sometimes may lead to aggression

Decrease trust and willingness to adhere treatment

To visual my research, storyboard and user journey were used to visualise the pain points faced by George. This also enable me to identify prioritisation and common grounds that I should address. As illustrated, the language barrier problem becomes more complex during medical assessment. We found that:

Sudden aggressive behaviours can alarm and upset the health professionals

Cultural habits and beliefs can heighten communication barriers

Frequent calls to family and friends can disrupt their personal life

Ad-hoc translation decreases accuracy

Patient experiences more negative emotions when they’re sick/in pain

Feeling like a burden due to reliance of others in communication

Based on the research, persona were created to represent the requirements of the LEP Chinese elderly community. A secondary persona of health practitioners were included to define objectives for increasing the use of the design in healthcare settings.

As illustrated, Ad hoc was favoured in healthcare due to its conveniences and it’s their ability to provide trust and emotional support. However, there are many concerns relating to accuracy of translation using this form of interpretation. Moreover, only one form of the interpreting services had standardised/codified system for pain and sensory. Codified systems are very important when designing for LEP communities due to the culture complexities.

Affinity map help me categorise my research. By sorting my research into topics, it help me identify prioritisations and the ‘How Might We’ question that I wanted to address.

Why aren’t they taking action?

Summary of pain points and requirement that I want to target in my design.