Language Barriers Faced By Immigrants To Canada

With the increasing immigrant population a third barrier affecting access to health care is a cultural barrier. Culture barriers can include values and beliefs, language and race and ethnicity. Health beliefs and behavior can become a barrier when patients decide not to seek medical treatment and instead turn to home remedies and healers when treating illnesses. Approximately 10% of Americans speak a language other than English and can be classified ad being limited in their proficiency. For these patients language becomes a barrier and they are less likely to receive optimal medical treatment (Flores, 2006). Horton and Johnson (2010) stress the importance of communication in reducing disparities and increasing the trust of patients in the health care system. As reported by the American College of Physicians, evidence reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to receive inferior care when compared with non-minorities. This occurs even when minorities have access to insurance and adequate income (Racial and ethnic disparities in health care, 2010).

The sociological effects that Aboriginal peoples in Canada face are vast. Residential schools, stripped people of their identity, enforced a cultural genocide, abused (both sexually and physically) children and created an unjust line of intergenerational trauma. Kinship ties, for the majority were lost during the residential school period, sometimes leaving entire communities displaced. The Canadian Government fails to recognize the treatment of Aboriginal peoples during the residential school period and there hasn’t been much done to help those who are affected.

Non-English speaking citizens and immigrants are receiving improper medical care because of the miscommunication. The people who cannot speak English well are misunderstood, when they go to free clinics or hospital emergency rooms and attempt to explain their symptoms and illness or cannot understand the doctors or medical profession that are trying to help them. ” Interpreters are omitting questions about drug allergies. Patients are not telling nurses the correct symptoms. A mother misunderstood by putting oral antibiotic into the ears of the child instead of the mouth. The Puerto Rican word for mumps is not the same in Central America, so a child was mistreated. A doctor mistakenly told a parent to put a steroid crème on entire child instead of just the face” (Yolanda Prtida, 2005). Language barriers in the medical field are dangerous and some times even fatal. There is definitely a need for more translators in hospitals and doctors office. Clear communication is essential for safe quality healthcare. Poor communication can lead to disastrous outcomes, especially for patients with limited or no English ability.

Can you imagine the how the healthcare industry would be without language, what seems to be impossible to imagine is the everyday reality of some patients because of their native language. Language is a major contribution to the health disparities that some populations face, because it makes it difficult for some patients to communicate their problems as well as understand the care they provided. Language contributes to the health disparities that some populations face because it creates a barrier between the patient and the care provider, making it difficult for a patient to receive proper care. Language barriers create a communication gap between a patient and a provider, forcing the patient to feel misunderstood and unable to trust his/her provider to properly care for them. I come from a family that speaks more than one language, so I have seen the impact language barriers can have on someone who doesn’t speak fluent English.

As we all know, Canada is an immigrant country. This beautify country attract more and more people who are longing for good future. In 2011, the population of foreign-born in Canada is about 6.7 million. No matter where we are from and what background we have, from the moment we land in Canada as immigrants, there are some problems we need to face to. The commonest three problems are learning a new language, adjusting to a new life-style, and finding a suitable job.

Canada, is well known for being immigration friendly over the course of history and it is an ideology that Canadians value. Immigration offers an opportunity for Canadians to seal in crevasses within the Canadian economy and stabilizes it from leaks which causes inflations and recessions. However, as opportunity presents itself, trade-offs are likely to follow. Today, Canadians are facing challenges regarding unemployment rates as well as increases in the cost of living. According to Collacott Martin, a senior at Fraser Institute who represented Canada in the department of external affairs, the housing prices are rising due to an increase in population among large cities in Canada. Collacott, predicted that newcomers of Canada cost between

Better research on immigrant health and health outcomes would go a long way to shining a light on how to tackle these problems. The current debate in the research concentrates on social determinants of health such as acculturation, which of course influences a lot of other health and healthcare decisions made by immigrants. However, only focusing on social determinants of health undermines the importance of other factors that also heavily affect immigrant health in the United States. Specifically in the case of undocumented immigrants, the debate need to focus on systemic issues impeding access to healthcare as well as pre and post migratory social, political, and economic factors. Some examples that Martinez et al listed include, “specific environmental conditions such as pollution and contamination of water, as well as pre-and-post migration experiences ranging from rape, sexual assault, and abuse to extortion and several other specific geopolitical and economic factors” (966). Social strife, political persecution or famines are real problems that can affect an individuals’ health and specifically their mental health for the rest of their lives. Torres et al urge “those involved in public health research, policy, and practice” to

Health care is one of the most controversial and discussed topics in the United States. This is mainly because of the enormous issues that surround this subject matter, such as the goal of creating a greater diversity in the medical professions, the goal to reduce health care disparities, and mainly to improve health care for all. In my personal experience this issues have affected me and my family very closely. As immigrants, I saw my parents struggle with the language, adapting to a new culture and even seeking healthcare. Health care disparities is an imminent issue that affects many of us, including me. On top of the financial struggle my parents faced as immigrants, they also faced the barrier of not being understood. I witnessed how my

(2) Disparities between the health of persons with mental illness as compared with that of those without, or (3) disparities between populations with respect to mental health and the quality, accessibility, and outcomes of mental health care ( Safran, M. A., Mays Jr, R. A., Huang, L. N., et al.,2009). Elderly immigrants are among the nation’s most vulnerable minority groups due to their limited health literacy ( Cordaso, Asch, Franco, & Magione, 2009) and serious health disparities, with many experiencing significantly worse health outcomes as compared to other groups. The term elderly immigrants refers to individuals 65 years of age or older who were not born in the United States (Leach,

Documentation status can affect almost every aspect of care. An undocumented patient has the fear of deportation and this ongoing threat leads to less participation in health care safety nets. They are often exploited in their workplace, compensated poorly and may stress out a lot in searching for work on a daily basis. Facing the distressing separation from family and the fear of being deported can lead to severe mood disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder. Most foreign-born Latinos speak Spanish and less than one-fourth is fluent in English. The language barrier affects the

One significant action of this policy is to provide mental health equity to racial, ethnic and cultural groups who have traditionally not received adequate mental health care. The Office of Minority Health published the first Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards (CLAS) in 2000 (Implementing Class Standards, 2013). This was used as a framework for health and mental health care agencies to provide improved services to diverse populations. According to Implementing Class Standards (2013), starting in the year 2010, under the Enhancement Initiative, improvements were made to the CLAS standards to make them clearer and to expand their use. The enhancements were designed

Effective communication with patients is critical to the safety and quality care. From the last two decades ,number of researches has been conducted on the impact of language barrier on health and healthcare. It is observed that language barriers are the main cause of medical errors, complication and adverse event. But due to data limitations ,limited researches on impacts of language barrier has been conducted in Canadian setting. However, the researches conducted on other countries on the impact of language barrier on quality of care is applicable in the Canadian context. Some researches shows that there are several barrier which affect quality of care and patient safety. Now, researches has begun to know the complexity of language, culture, race, health literacy that may affect patient care. Current approaches are moved towards the knowledge of risk of language barrier rather than implementation of effective, evidence informed strategies.

Jacobs, E. A., Shepard, D. S., Suaya, J. A., Stone, E. (2004). Overcoming language barriers in health care: costs and benefits of interpreter services. American Journal of Public Health, 94 (5), 866-869.

Policies have an important role in regulating and shaping the values in a society. The issues related to mental health are not only considered as personal but also affecting the relationships with significant others. The stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health can be traced to the lack of legislation and protection of rights (Rodriguez del Barrio et al., 2014). The policy makers in mental health have a challenging task to protect the rights of individuals as well as the public (Swigger & Heinmiller, 2014). Therefore, it is essential to analyse the current mental health policies. In Canada, provinces adopt their own Mental Health Acts (MHA) to implement mental health services. As of January 15, 2016, there are 13 mental health acts in Canada (Gray, Hastings, Love, & O’Reilly, 2016). The key elements, despite the differences in laws, are “(1) involuntary admission criteria, (2) the right to refuse treatment, and (3) who has the authority to authorize treatment” (Browne, 2010). The current act in Ontario is Mental Health Act, 1990.

One of the greatest things about nursing is that we have the opportunity to share with different cultures and learn about them. Our patients are complex; they each have their religion, culture, and life choices. Delivering health advice and not knowing much about a patient’s cultural background will influence how the patient may perceive the nurses’ advice. The article that I did my research on was published in 2011, by Perez-Avila, Sobralske and Katz; the name of the article is “No Comprendo: Practice Considerations When Caring for Latinos With Limited English Proficiency in the United States Health Care System”. In the United States, Hispanics form the largest minority. Most of this community has limited English