158534 Bringing the gap between rural Hispanics and health care services: Individual and community impacts of a community-based medical interpreters training program

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Marcela Garces, MD, MSPH , National Center for Rural Health Professions, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, Rockford, IL
Sergio Cristancho, PhD , National Center for Rural Health Professions and Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, Rockford, IL
Ben Mueller, MS , National Center for Rural Health Professions, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, Rockford, IL
Karen E. Peters, DrPH , School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Rural Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. face numerous barriers to accessing good quality healthcare. These barriers include travel time and distance from place of residence to healthcare centers, underinsurance, and language barriers that significantly limit communication in the patient-provider encounter. Using a Community Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) approach, the Center of Excellence in Rural Health Project EXPORT at the University of Illinois College of Medicine –Rockford identified language as the most significant barrier to accessing healthcare among 941 Hispanics living in five rural counties. Local Hispanic Health Advisory Committees (HHACs) in these counties partnered with research staff to offer a medical interpretation training program to address the language barrier concern. Twenty four bilingual community members participated in a basic 40-hour nationally recognized healthcare interpreter training opportunity. Results from the initial and a 6-month follow-up evaluation of this training indicate high levels of participant satisfaction with various aspects of the training and their successful placement in local community clinics and organizations. Increased improvements in participant's' employment status and opportunities for professional development are also noted. From an organizational standpoint, this community-based training program has also been beneficial for local healthcare providers who report significant increases in the number of rural Hispanic patients being served and improvements in their ability to provide culturally-appropriate services to their patients. The finding of a critical need for community capacity building (i.e. medical interpretation training) resulted from the participatory approach emphasized in the CBPAR model used in this effort

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify opportunities and challenges related to the use of community-based approaches to address health communication needs among rural Hispanic communities 2. Describe individual, organizational and community impacts of a community-based medical interpretation training

Keywords: Latino Health, Communication

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.