4138.0: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 - Board 6

Abstract #10304

Are Spanish health messages reaching their target?: Problems in the use of translations

Holly E. Jacobson, MA, ABD, Interdisciplinary PHD Program in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching, University of Arizona, 422 Richmond Place, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, (505)256-7208, hollyj@u.arizona.edu

As we begin the new century, health professionals find themselves faced with the challenge of developing effective strategies for communicating with, disseminating information to, and providing adequate health care to an increasingly multicultural, multilingual population. The health community is a "written culture" in which English print materials are used to communicate health-related information to patients and their communities; they face a barrage of brochures, drug labels, self-care instructions, handouts on medical procedures and treatments, and other materials during treatment and consultation. One response to this problem has involved an enormous expenditure of money by health organizations on translating health materials originally developed in English into Spanish. However, even when professional translators are involved in preparing print materials in Spanish, many problems tend to emerge. The research presented here, sponsored by a grant from the Agency of Health Care Policy and Research, involves analyses of large corpora of translated (English to Spanish) and non-translated (developed originally in Spanish) health promotion brochures dealing with AIDS, tuberculosis, CVDs, and diabetes currently distributed to Spanish speakers in New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of content, syntactic structures, pragmatics, macrostructural patterning, and microlinguistic features reveal essential differences between the two types of texts. In addition, the field testing of a subset of the texts through an experimental design demonstrates that the non-translated texts are more effective in promoting knowledge and attitude changes in monolingual Spanish-speaking adults. The importance of and guidelines for developing non-translated health messages in Spanish are discussed.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participants will be able to... 1. List 5 distinguishing characteristics of the written texts of different languages. 2. Articulate the problems inherent in using translations as a primary resource in disseminating health information. 3. Identify alternatives to translation in the development of effective health messages for Spanish-speaking and other language minority populations

Keywords: Health Literacy, Latino Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Agency of Health Care Policy and Research-U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Dissertation Grant (Grants for Health Services Dissertation Research).

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA