. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Aug 6.

Published in final edited form as: Health Secur. 2023 Oct 27;21(6):489–499. doi: 10.1089/hs.2023.0050

Table 2.

Overview of Relevant Findings Related to Communications for Populations with Limited English Proficiency in Emergency Infectious Disease Outbreaks

Categories	Relevant Findings	Language of Population With Limited English Proficiency Studied
Documentation of language barriers in communications on emergency infectious disease outbreaks (n=18 studies)	Less availability of non-English emergency information (n=9)^{33,35,45,53–57,60}	Spanish, Swahili, multilingual
	Need for non-English information (n=2)^45,48	Spanish, Swahili
	Public health/healthcare workers’ training/skills needs (n=5)^{38,39,44,46,50}	Portuguese, Spanish, multilingual
	Language discussed as barrier to sending/receiving emergency information (n=4)^36,42,44,47	Spanish
Information channels used for emergency infectious disease outbreaks (n=18 studies)	Traditional media (n=11): television, radio, newspapers (local, national, and international)^{30,31,35,37,40,45,46,48,49,51,52}	Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, multilingual
	Internet/social media (n=11): internet,^{31,40,45,51,52} social _media^{30,40,43,45,46,49,58,59}	Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, multilingual
	Friends/family (n=8): friends/family,^{30,31,35,45,51,52} social networks/community members^30,40,41,45	Chinese, Spanish, Swahili, multilingual
	Healthcare providers (n=6): healthcare providers,^{30,31,37,51,52} specifically federally qualified health centers⁴⁷	Chinese, Spanish, multilingual
	Community-based and religious organizations (n=6): nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations or community centers,^30,31,40 specifically including Ventanilla de Salud,⁴² refugee programs,³⁵ churches^40,45	Chinese, Spanish, Swahili
	Officials or public figures (n=4): public health agencies,³⁰ governor⁴⁹ or other elected officials,^30,31 public health systems or hotlines,³¹ firefighters⁴⁰	Chinese, Spanish
	Other (n=7): health educators³⁷; emergency SMS (text) alerts, phone calls, mobile phone applications, or email^31,40,49,51; door-to-door⁴⁰; police departments³⁷; schools^31,40; workplaces^45,50	Chinese, Spanish, Swahili, multilingual
Trust in sources of emergency infectious disease outbreak information (n=16 studies)	Trust in sources of information (n=14)
	Media (n=3): television,^45,52 journalists³²	Spanish, Swahili
	Internet/social media (n=4): internet,^34,52 social media^46,49	Portuguese, Spanish, multilingual
	Friends/family (n=2): friends, family, social networks^30,48	Chinese, Spanish
	Healthcare providers (n=6): healthcare providers,^{30,41,48,52,60} traditional medicine practitioners,³⁰ medical interpreters⁴⁰	Chinese, Spanish, multilingual
	Community-based and religious organizations (n=7): staff at community-based organizations⁶⁰ and specific programs (Ventanilla de Salud⁴² and the Rochester Healthy Community Partnership⁴³), faith groups/religious leaders,^30,41,48,60 community stakeholders⁴⁸	Spanish, multilingual
	Officials or public figures (n=3): public health agencies/departments,³⁰ elected officials,³⁰ government generally^33,41	Chinese, Spanish, multilingual
	Other (n=3): social services,⁴¹ translated mail handouts,³⁴ schools,⁴¹ phone calls,³⁴ texting,⁴⁹ emailing⁴⁹	Spanish, multilingual
	Other areas studied (n=6): misinformation (n=4)^42,46,51,60; general trust/mistrust in information (n=2)^31,45	Portuguese, Spanish, multilingual; Chinese, Swahili
Other barriers and facilitators that shape receptivity to information, beyond trust (n=16 studies)	Cultural factors that shape receptivity to information (n=8): differences in vaccine willingness,³³ whether cultural needs were considered or met,^{34,38,42–44,47,60} public health workers expressed interest in training on cultural competency or cultural sensitivity^38,44	Portuguese, Spanish, multilingual,
	Literacy/health literacy as a barrier to communication (n=5)^{33,44,47,54,55}	Spanish
	Quality of information/user experience (n=4): hospital websites,⁵⁵ health department websites,^56,57 contact tracing calls³⁶	Spanish, multilingual
	Other areas studied (n=8): concerns about immigration, being undocumented, or fear of deportation related to the emergency infectious disease outbreak (n=5)^{35,44,46,47,60}; stigma, “othering,” or discrimination (n=3)^30,47,60	Portuguese, Spanish, multilingual; Chinese, Spanish