The Handbook of Language in Public Health and Healthcare
Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics Series

The first reference work of its kind, The Handbook of Language in Public Health and Healthcare offers an interdisciplinary overview of language and linguistics in application to all fields of medicine, health communications, clinician practice, and patient outcomes. Taking a broad view of the field, this volume offers analyses of modern and historical developments in healthcare and public health from perspectives based in all subfields of linguistics, including applied linguistics, anthropological linguistics, sociolinguistics, language policy, and translation studies.

The volume is divided into five parts, each of which takes on a major research area in the modern field. Beginning with a consideration of the history and grounding theory of this research area, chapters in the first section approach major questions in the field from the perspectives of different branches of linguistics. The second section dives into questions surrounding the roles of interpreters in medical settings and the challenges of providing adequate communication resources for doctors and patients, including users of sign language. The third section considers questions in language concordance, the broad area of study which is concerned with the practice of matching patients with healthcare practitioners who speak their languages. The fourth section shifts focus to the practitioners and their teachers through chapters that consider education and assessment as well as second language acquisition as a part of medical education and professional development. Finally, the fifth section takes a close look at questions in the subfield of language and media with chapters that consider healthcare communication strategies and the roles of social media and entertainment in disseminating information ? a particularly timely set of chapters which offer some critical insights based on all that researchers have learned as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

This volume is an ideal resource for students and researchers working in the international fields of language and medicine as well as clinicians pursuing professional development and medical educators. It is certain to become the definitive reference work for this burgeoning area of research as it will offer a review of the leading thinking on key topics following the COVID-19 pandemic and questions which have lately come to the fore in disparities in global access to care.

Editors

Contributors

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction to the Handbook

Part I. Theory, History, and Context: Language in Public Health and Healthcare

1. Are We Overlooking Language? An Applied Linguistics Perspective on the Role of Language as a Social Determinant of Health
Stefanie Harsch, PhD and Maricel G. Santos, EdD

2. Sociolinguistics, Public Health, and Healthcare
Dalia Magaña, PhD

3. A Critical Overview of Illness Narratives: Sociolinguistic, Literary, and Graphic Perspectives
Roxana Delbene, PhD, DMH

4. Anthropological Linguistics, Health, and Healthcare
Milena Melo, PhD, Carla Pezzia, PhD, William J. Robertson, PhD, and K. Jill Fleuriet, PhD

Part II. Language Interpretation and Translation in Public Health and Healthcare

5. Recognizing and Addressing Language Discordance
Allison P. Squires, PhD, RN, FAAN

6. The Role of Medical Interpreters
Elaine Hsieh, PhD

7. Healthcare Translation for Patients
Karwacka Wioleta, PhD

8. Health Literacy and Plain Language
Suad Ghaddar, PhD

Part III. Language Concordance in Public Health and Healthcare

9. Language Concordance in Clinical Care
Alicia Fernández, MD and Francine Ríos-Fetchko, BA

10. Language Concordance as Interactional Concordance in Multilingual Clinical Consultations
Caroline H. Vickers, PhD and Ryan A. Goble, PhD

11. Assessing Clinician Language Skills
Ute Knoch, PhD and Jason Fan, PhD

12. Setting Standards for Clinician Language Use in Patient Care
John D. Cowden, MD, MPH

13. Current Gaps and Future Directions in Language Concordance Research and Policy
George S. Corpuz, BA, BS, David A. Chirikian, MS, BS, and Lisa C. Diamond, MD, MPH

Part IV. Pedagogy of Medical Language Education

14. Second Language Acquisition for Healthcare Purposes
Karol J. Hardin, PhD

15. Centering Translanguaging for Inclusive Health Communication: Implications for Healthcare Professional Education
Josh Prada, PhD and Robyn Woodward-Kron, PhD

16. Dedicated Medical Spanish Courses and Cross-Linguistic Healthcare Communication Skills
Marco Alemán, MD and Alejandra Zapién-Hidalgo, MD, MPH

17. Medical Language Programs to Enhance Engagement with Diverse Communities in the United States and Around the World
Rose L. Molina, MD, MPH and Jennifer Kasper, MD, MPH

18. Clinical Communication Skills Training in Minoritized Languages
Carmen Pérez-Muñoz, PhD and Tiffany M. Shin, MD

19. Faculty Development in Medical Language Education
Mónica B. Vela, MD, FACP and Adriana C. Black Morocoima, MPH, MAT

Part V. Mass Communication and Health: Theory, Research, and Application with and for Linguistically Diverse Populations

20. Mass Media and Health Research In, With, and For Linguistically Diverse Populations
Katharine J. Head, PhD and Katherine E. Ridley-Merriweather, MA

21. Health Information Seeking Among Linguistically Diverse Populations in the U.S.
Christine Swoboda, PhD, Priti Singh, PhD, A. Susana Ramírez, PhD, MPH, and Naleef Fareed, PhD

22. Entertainment Education as Linguistic Duality in Practice
Suruchi Sood, PhD and Rachael HaileSelasse, MA

23. Graphic Medicine and Visual Communication Techniques for Public Health and Healthcare in Linguistically Diverse Settings
MK Czerwiec, RN, MA, Q. Jane Zhao, MSc, Isa Álvarez, BA, and Pilar Ortega, MD, MGM

24. Social Media and Health in Linguistically Diverse Communities: An Examination of Overlooked Populations and Understudied Platforms
Anna Gaysynsky, MPH, Kathryn Heley, PhD, MPH, and Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, PhD, MPH

25. Urgent Communication in Public Health Crises: Reaching Linguistically Diverse Audiences
Xiaoli Nan, PhD, Victoria Ledford, PhD, and A. Susana Ramírez, PhD, MPH

Glossary

Index

Pilar Ortega, MD, MGM, is Vice President, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Departments of Emergency Medicine and Medical Education. Dr. Ortega co-founded the National Association of Medical Spanish and the Medical Organization for Latino Advancement.

Glenn Martínez, PhD, MPH, is Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts and Professor of Spanish, Bicultural/Bilingual Studies, and Public Health at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Martínez’s research focuses on sociolinguistics and applied linguistics of Spanish-speaking communities in the United States and along the US-Mexico border.

Maichou Lor, PhD, RN, is Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing. Dr. Lor’s research focuses on reducing health disparities through improving health communication between healthcare providers and patients, specifically patients with low health literacy and/or limited English proficiency. She is a board member of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care.

A. Susana Ramírez, PhD, MPH, is Associate Professor of Public Health Communication at the University of California, Merced. As an infodemiologist, Dr. Ramírez applies communication science to advance public health goals. She is an internationally recognized expert on media, inequality, and health.