Table 3.
Confidence with English, professional interpreter services, and quality of care by migrant language group
| Variable, n (%) | Total n a | Arabic‐speaking migrant n Reg=57n Clinic=145 | Chinese‐speaking migrantn Reg=141n Clinic=248 | Greek‐speaking migrantn Reg=79n Clinic=178 | P‐valueb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How confident the patients felt with English | |||||
| Patient confident speaking English with hospital staffc | 276 | 45 (79) | 94 (67) | 56 (72) | .2 |
| Confident understanding English spoken by hospital staffc , e | 276 | 44 (77) | 90 (64) | 54 (69) | .2 |
| Confident speaking English with hospital staff other than doctors and nursesd , e | 567 | 90 (63) | 111 (45) | 114 (64) | <.0001 |
| Confident understanding English spoken by hospital staff other than doctors and nursesd , e | 567 | 93 (65) | 107 (44) | 113 (63) | <.0001 |
| Patient had difficulty communicating with doctors in English | 839 | 127 (63) | 287 (75) | 155 (61) | .0002 |
| Patients identified needing someone (family or professional interpreter) to interpret at medical visits | 843 | 106 (53) | 219 (56) | 112 (44) | .0006 |
| When using Professional Interpretationg patients found that they were | |||||
| Confident with accuracy of the interpreter | 320 | 65 (92) | 176 (92) | 51 (89) | .9 |
| Comfortable with interpreter | 321 | 64 (91) | 173 (90) | 49 (85) | .4 |
| The interpreter explained medical terminology well | 319 | 62 (87) | 163 (86) | 54 (93) | .3 |
| Whether patients were able to access the same interpreter every time | |||||
| No, but were not bothered by this | 311 | 39 (57) | 135 (72) | 36 (65) | .1 |
| No, but were bothered by this | 13 (19) | 29 (16) | 8 (15) | ||
| Yes, same interpreter was used each time | 17 (25) | 23 (12) | 11 (20) | ||
| Patient perceived quality of caref | |||||
| Care was the same or better because of cultural background | 838 | 198 (99) | 375 (97) | 250 (99) | .02 |
| Care was worse because of lack of English | 635 | 12 (9) | 44 (15) | 14 (7) | .03 |
n Reg, number of participants in the registry sample; n Clinic, number of participants in the clinic sample.
n varies due to separate reporting of hospital and registry studies when items were worded differently or due to conditional responses (e.g. “only answer if you had an interpreter present at the appointment”).
Chi‐squared comparison between groups.
Registry patients only.
Clinic patients only.
Responded to a four‐point Likert scale with the following options: “Very confident”, “confident”, “not so confident”, “not confident at all.”
Responded to a four‐point Likert scale with the following options: “Not at all”, “sometimes”, “often”, “very often.”
Including only patients who used an interpreter.