Project summary
In view of the ever greater migration of representatives of different ethnic and linguistic groups not only within the enlarged EU, but also from the communities outside European borders, the issues regarding establishing communication in social services is becoming one of the most pertinent problems of contemporary societies. The challenge of establishing successful communication in medical settings is seen as the most burning issue in the majority of the EU member states, especially after the last enlargement. Since Slovenia became the member of the EU, it has turned into a country of increasing immigration (economic and political). The migrants now come from the linguistic environments that are not familiar to Slovenian general public. Many of those migrants come into contact with Slovenian health service providers but cannot establish a successful communication, which leads into longer, sometimes even inappropriate treatment and higher costs.
The virtual inexistence of healthcare interpreting in Slovenia reflects insufficient legal basis that would organize the field in an integrated way and thus enable its further development. Currently, the establishment of communication in healthcare settings with speakers of languages that are not traditionally understood by the medical personnel is only managed through improvisation and goodwill of all parties involved. The need for the interpretation in health care is consequently only known to those who experience the lack of it.
The proposed research responds to this growing need. It will, on the one hand, analyze the state of the art of public service interpreting (PSI) in Slovenia and attempt to raise awareness for the need of providing PSI among Slovenian health-care stakeholders, and, on the other hand, it will take up a proactive approach by fulfilling all the necessary conditions for the implementation of a training programme for healthcare interpreters which would correspond to the specific needs of Slovenia. Thus, it is expected to respond to a clear demand, since more and more Slovenian healthcare providers have to address the needs of patients who do not speak the Slovenian language or languages in which healthcare providers can communicate.
The main research objectives of the proposed project therefore are:
- a review and analysis of the state of the art of public service interpreting in Slovenia;
- compilation of a list of literature dealing with healthcare interpreting and related issues in Slovenia, critical discussion of the legislation dealing with public service interpreting;
- exploring the possible use of IT tools facilitating interpreting in Slovenian healthcare settings;
- awareness raising activities to inform healthcare stakeholders, healthcare providers and users of the healthcare services of the need for healthcare interpreting and establish the ground for that activity in Slovenia;
- a design of the curriculum for health care interpreting for Slovenia and preparation of all the documentation;
- implementation and evaluation of a curriculum for health care interpreters; preparation of teaching material; selection and training of trainers;
- a design of a proposal how to organize the network for healthcare interpreting provision service in Slovenia;
- dissemination of the results of the project.
The proposed project group shall include researchers employed by the Department of Translation Studies, University of Ljubljana, who were also actively involved in the European LLL Project MedInt – Development of a curriculum for medical interpreters (134007-LLP-2007-AT-GRUNDTVIG-GMP), and by the Department of Slavonic Studies, since the most numerous potential users of interpreting in healthcare system are speakers of the South-Eastern Europe. The partners of the consortium are also researchers from the most important medical institution in Slovenia, the University Medical Centre in Ljubljana.
