Interpreters/Cultural Brokers Project


About the Interpreters/Cultural Brokers Project

Interpreters/Cultural Brokers pilots the use of videoconferencing technology to allow timely access to interpreters skilled in mental health issues who can use cultural information to help inform the medical encounter.

This project is part of the Best Practices for Interpreting and Cultural Brokering Services initiative which seeks to evaluate language access services at the New York State Office of Mental Health facilities and to develop a novel model for expanding the cultural brokering function of interpreter services using teleconferencing technology to improve the quality of clinician-consumer communication.

Project details

This project is being developed for Spanish and Mandarin speakers, the two largest language minorities in New York State. Activities included:

  • Conducting focus groups with Spanish and Mandarin speaking patients from pilot test, to learn how they viewed the benefits and challenges of using the cultural broker via web-based video during the pilot study. Focus groups were conducted in March, 2013.
  • Developing a proposal for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to advance and test the cultural brokering model for mental health services. Proposal submitted in January, 2014.

Reports

We invite you to read our Cultural Competence Matters reports on this topic:

You may see all our periodic Cultural Competence Matters reports here: Cultural Competence Matters.


To see an alphabetical list of all the projects being conducted at our Center, please click here:  Research projects at the CECC.