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Article published In:
Interpreting
Vol. 19:2 (2017) ► pp.232–259

From concern for patients to a quest for information

How medical socialization shapes family physicians’ representations of interpreters

| Université Laval | Université Laval |
| Université du Québec à Montréal
| Université Laval
| Université de Bordeaux

This study of social representations about interpreted medical consultations examines the discourse of French language focus groups (FGs), conducted in Quebec, with 22 third year medical students (4 FGs), 29 family medicine residents (4 FGs) and 47 experienced family physicians (5 FGs). The audio-recorded FGs were transcribed. Each discussed two video vignettes of interpreted consultations. Statistical textual analysis showed that the students’ discourse patterns differed by FG. Residents prioritized access to the patient’s culture via the interpreter, though recognizing the need to respect the patient-physician relationship. Senior physicians organized their discourse differently for each vignette, associating it with a ‘standard’ response: for them, the two main issues were the quest for information, which we relate to the medical socialization process; and the interpreter’s stances, in terms of how s/he is perceived by physicians and the role(s) s/he is seen to play in the consultation. Physicians tend to represent the interpreter as a controllable ‘object’, not a full-fledged healthcare professional.

Keywords: healthcare interpreter, interpreter’s role, cross-cultural healthcare, medical socialization, textometry
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Materials and methods
    • 2.1Participants and study context
    • 2.2Material
    • 2.3Procedure
    • 2.4Data analysis by textometry: Rationale and procedure
    • 2.5Variables and operationalization of research aim
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Discourse organization in the corpus as a whole
    • 3.2Discourse organization according to status
      • 3.2.1Students
      • 3.2.2Residents
      • 3.2.3Senior physicians
    • 3.3Significant co-occurrences in the status subcorpora
      • 3.3.1Students
      • 3.3.2Residents
      • 3.3.3Senior physicians
  • 4.Summary and discussion
  • Disclosure
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.19.2.04lea
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