Communication barriers in maternity care of allophone migrants: Experiences of women, healthcare professionals, and intercultural interpreters.
Paola Origlia Ikhilor, Gabriele Hasenberg, Elisabeth Kurth and 3 others
PMID 31172543WHAT IT FOUND
Migrant mothers and maternity staff described language barriers that reduced care to gestures.
Informed consent and trust were often compromised. Interpreters were seen as essential, especially in emergencies, but access was inconsistent.
Key findings
01Communication often fell back on gestures and simplified speech, so women could not understand procedures or give informed consent.
02Interpreters were described as indispensable for appropriate maternity care, but limited availability led to overloaded consultations.
03Women described feeling at the mercy of providers when interventions were not explained, and some avoided later care after negative experiences.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample of migrant mothers was small and convenience-based, so it cannot represent all allophone migrants. The study was limited to German-speaking Switzerland and to Eritrean, Albanian and Kosovan women, so other maternity systems and migrant groups may differ. Women with serious complications were meant to be excluded, but some participants had had complications and were not excluded retrospectively. All Eritrean women were recruited through a single person who also acted as an interpreter, which may have influenced what they said. Tigrinya and Albanian interviews were not back-translated, so some nuance may have been lost. This is qualitative work about experiences, not a trial of interpreting or communication training, so it cannot show whether these measures improve care.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest. No funding source is stated in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that interpreters or training improve maternal outcomes. The study describes communication barriers and experiences; it did not test whether any intervention changes clinical results.