How do hospitalised patients with Turkish migration background estimate their language skills and their comprehension of medical information – a prospective cross-sectional study and comparison to native patients in Germany to assess the language barrier and the need for translation

• Published in: BMC health services research Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 196
• Main Authors: Giese, Arnd, Uyar, Müberra, Uslucan, Haci Halil, Becker, Stefan, Henning, Bernhard Ferdinand
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 28.05.2013; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Communication Barriers; Comprehension; Consent; Cross-Sectional Studies; Emigrants and Immigrants - psychology; Emigration and immigration; Female; German language; Germany; Health Administration; Health Informatics; Health Services Needs and Demand; Healthcare needs and demand; Hospital patients; Hospitals; Humans; Inpatients - psychology; Internal medicine; Interpreters; Language; Language barriers; Language skills; Linguistics; Literacy; Male; Medical advice systems; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Migration; Nursing Research; Palliative care; Patient Education as Topic; Patients; Prospective Studies; Public Health; Questionnaires; Research Article; Social aspects; Surgery; Surveys and Questionnaires; Translating; Translating and interpreting; Turkey - ethnology; Turkish language; Turks; Germany; Turkey; Turkish migrants; Translation; Interpreter; Invasive procedures; Consent to treatment; Turkish migration background; Language barrier; Language skills; University hospital; Provision of information; School education; Hospitalised patients; Germany
• ISSN: 1472-6963; 1472-6963
• DOI: 10.1186/1472-6963-13-196

Background Today more than two million people with Turkish migration background live in Germany making them the largest ethnic minority in the country. Data concerning language skills and the perception of medical information in hospitalised patients with Turkish migration background (T) are scarce. Our study is the first to gather quantitative information on this important subject. Methods T and hospitalised German patients without migration background (G) of our university hospital were prospectively included into a cross-sectional study and completed a questionnaire - each group in the appropriate language (T: Turkish, G: German). Results 121 T and 121 G were included. Groups significantly differed in age (T: 44.9 ± 17.8, G: 56.9 ± 16.7y) and proportion of males (T: 37.2, G: 54.5%) but not regarding the proportion of college graduates (T: 19.3, G: 15.7%). The majority of T was born in Turkey (71%) and is of Turkish nationality (66%). 74% of T speak mainly Turkish at home; however, 73% speak German at work. 74.4% of T self-rated their German linguistic proficiency as “average” or better while 25.6% reported it as “very bad” or “bad”. 10.7% of T need translation in order to pursue everyday activities. T were significantly less satisfied with the physician’s information on disease and estimated to understand significantly less of what the physician told them: 46.3% of T estimated their reception of the physician’s information to be “average” or worse. 43.3% of T had the impression that it would have helped them “much” or “very much” to be aided by an interpreter at the hospital. The information transmitted while giving informed consent to invasive medical procedure was judged to be “mostly” or “completely” sufficient by the majority of T (76%) and G (89.8%). In this setting 37 of 96 T (38.5%) reported being helped by an interpreter – in most cases (64.9%) a family member. Conclusion Although the majority of patients with Turkish migration background have spent most of their lives in Germany (28.94 ± 10.41y) a large part of this population has limited German language skills and difficulties obtaining medical information when hospitalised.