"If patients are attended to in their language they have less anxiety and more confidence with the doctor"

A study by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) analyzing one hundred international research papers on healthcare with linguistic discordance confirms that "not guaranteeing healthcare in the patients' language can be detrimental to the accuracy of diagnoses, the trust between doctor and patient, and the quality of care." According to scientific evidence, this situation particularly affects migrated individuals who do not know the country's language, but the research places special emphasis on the impact it has on the native population with a minority or minoritized language, such as Catalan, for which there are still no specific scientific studies.

Joana Pena-Tarradelles, a researcher in Translation and Language Sciences, has analyzed the main field studies conducted in countries such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Wales, and the Basque Country regarding access to health for migrant communities and autochthonous communities with more than one language. "Healthcare in a language different from the patient's has consequences," Pena-Tarradelles states to ARA.

studies with francophone patients in Canadastudies with francophone patients in Canada, with Swedish speakers in Finland, with Galician speakers and Basque speakers, "communication difficulties can persist, especially in situations of stress and vulnerability or when complex pain sensations need to be described, because the patient resorts to their usual language and loses fluency in the second language", points out the study by Pena-Tarradelles published in the Revista de Llengua i Dret.

; but also the case of the patient undergoing psychiatric treatment to whom Pena-Tarradelles is currently studying what impact it may have for Catalan speakers to not be attended in Catalan in the country's healthcare centers, where it is an official language. "Many times it is assumed that if the patient knows how to speak Spanish and is bilingual, there are no communication barriers and that being attended to in the minority language is an ideological preference that has no impact on healthcare", she observes. The first results suggest that "language is an important factor in the quality of medical care", says UPF researcher Joana Pena-Tarradelles. A paradigmatic case is the one described by Carme Junyent in her farewell article, Dying in Catalan; but also the case of the patient undergoing psychiatric treatment to whom they denied treatment in Catalan.

Not knowing the language at all

Different studies from the United States, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Australia, or Spain, have analyzed the relationship between language and health, especially for the migrant population. Immigrants who do not speak the official languages of the country tend to make fewer comments and be less heard in consultations, and this, in addition to worsening their health, also directly leads to patients going to the doctor less often. Situations such as misinformation about the follow-up of serious pathologies like heart attack, cancer, or diabetes are detailed. Or Pakistani and Moroccan women who avoid gynecological follow-up because they feel discriminated against. "One of the major differences is that the migrated population that does not speak the official language of the country not only has a communication barrier, but there is also a large cultural difference, a lack of sociocultural knowledge of behavioral norms, and a low educational level," observes the researcher. Cultural and social distances, and even patients who go to the doctor with mediators, pose a significant handicap for communication, care, and trust within the health system.