Investigating the Impacts of Language Barriers in Healthcare and the use of Communication Strategies: Indonesian Caregivers in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Katarina Heidy Yunita, 于潔
• Other Authors: C. L. Kuo
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/vwt4vt

碩士 === 長庚大學 === 商管專業學院 === 105 === Background: This study explores the language barriers encountered by Indonesian caregivers. It also investigates the methods or strategies used to overcome the language barriers. Method: Face-to-face interviews were conducted. Snowball samplings were used to recruit the six Indonesian caregivers. Findings: Indonesian caregivers faced language barriers when they came to work in Taiwan for the first time. Language barriers caused mental and physical suffering on the elders and the caregivers. Evidently, several characteristics of introvert and extrovert were found on three caregivers. The caregivers who tend to be extroverts use direct and interactional communication strategies. The caregivers who tend to be introverts use indirect strategies, topic avoidance, and asked for help from the third parties. Practical Implications: According to the findings, the introvert caregivers prefer to ask for help from other Indonesian caregivers when working in hospitals. Taiwan’s hospitals can hire experienced Indonesian caregivers for the purposes of helping the novice Indonesian caregivers when encountering language barriers and the unfamiliarity with healthcare context. Through the mechanism, they can build the trust and expand the interpersonal network. As a result, introverts will be comfortable to ask questions when facing the problem. Providing communication strategy training might be another way to overcome the language barriers. Previous studies showed that communication strategies are able to help second language learners to achieve effective communication.