Building freeways: piloting communication skills in additional languages to health service personnel in Cape Town, South Africa

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dc.contributor.authorClaassen, Joel
dc.contributor.authorJama, Zukile
dc.contributor.authorManga, Nayna
dc.contributor.authorLewis, Minnie
dc.contributor.authorHellenberg, Derek
dc.date.accessioned2021-10-08T06:20:25Z
dc.date.available2021-10-08T06:20:25Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: This study reflects on the development and teaching of communication skills courses in additional national languages to health care staff within two primary health care facilities in Cape Town, South Africa. These courses were aimed at addressing the language disparities that recent research has identified globally between patients and health care staff. Communication skills courses were offered to staff at two Metropolitan District Health Services clinics to strengthen patient access to health care services. This study reflects on the communicative proficiency in the additional languages that were offered to health care staff. METHODS: A mixed-method approach was utilised during this case study with quantitative data-gathering through surveys and qualitative analysis of assessment results. The language profiles of the respective communities were assessed through data obtained from the South African National census, while staff language profiles were obtained at the health care centres. Quantitative measuring, by means of a patient survey at the centres, occurred on a randomly chosen day to ascertain the language profile of the patient population. Participating staff performed assessments at different phases of the training courses to determine their skill levels by the end of the course. RESULTS: The performances of the participating staff during the Xhosa and Afrikaans language courses were assessed, and the development of the staff communicative competencies was measured. Health care staff learning the additional languages could develop Basic or Intermediate Xhosa and Afrikaans that enables communication with patients. CONCLUSIONS: In multilingual countries such as South Africa, language has been recognised as a health care barrier preventing patients from receiving quality care. Equipping health care staff with communication skills in the additional languages, represents an attempt to bridge a vital barrier in the South African health care system. The study proves that offering communication skills courses in additional languages, begins to equip health care staff to be multilingual, that allows patients to communicate about their illnesses within their mother tongues.
dc.identifier.apacitationClaassen, J., Jama, Z., Manga, N., Lewis, M., & Hellenberg, D. (2017). Building freeways: piloting communication skills in additional languages to health service personnel in Cape Town, South Africa. <i>BMC Health Services Research</i>, 17(1), 174 - 177. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/34272en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationClaassen, Joel, Zukile Jama, Nayna Manga, Minnie Lewis, and Derek Hellenberg "Building freeways: piloting communication skills in additional languages to health service personnel in Cape Town, South Africa." <i>BMC Health Services Research</i> 17, 1. (2017): 174 - 177. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/34272en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationClaassen, J., Jama, Z., Manga, N., Lewis, M. & Hellenberg, D. 2017. Building freeways: piloting communication skills in additional languages to health service personnel in Cape Town, South Africa. <i>BMC Health Services Research.</i> 17(1):174 - 177. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/34272en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1472-6963
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Claassen, Joel AU - Jama, Zukile AU - Manga, Nayna AU - Lewis, Minnie AU - Hellenberg, Derek AB - BACKGROUND: This study reflects on the development and teaching of communication skills courses in additional national languages to health care staff within two primary health care facilities in Cape Town, South Africa. These courses were aimed at addressing the language disparities that recent research has identified globally between patients and health care staff. Communication skills courses were offered to staff at two Metropolitan District Health Services clinics to strengthen patient access to health care services. This study reflects on the communicative proficiency in the additional languages that were offered to health care staff. METHODS: A mixed-method approach was utilised during this case study with quantitative data-gathering through surveys and qualitative analysis of assessment results. The language profiles of the respective communities were assessed through data obtained from the South African National census, while staff language profiles were obtained at the health care centres. Quantitative measuring, by means of a patient survey at the centres, occurred on a randomly chosen day to ascertain the language profile of the patient population. Participating staff performed assessments at different phases of the training courses to determine their skill levels by the end of the course. RESULTS: The performances of the participating staff during the Xhosa and Afrikaans language courses were assessed, and the development of the staff communicative competencies was measured. Health care staff learning the additional languages could develop Basic or Intermediate Xhosa and Afrikaans that enables communication with patients. CONCLUSIONS: In multilingual countries such as South Africa, language has been recognised as a health care barrier preventing patients from receiving quality care. Equipping health care staff with communication skills in the additional languages, represents an attempt to bridge a vital barrier in the South African health care system. The study proves that offering communication skills courses in additional languages, begins to equip health care staff to be multilingual, that allows patients to communicate about their illnesses within their mother tongues. DA - 2017 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town IS - 1 J1 - BMC Health Services Research LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PY - 2017 SM - 1472-6963 T1 - Building freeways: piloting communication skills in additional languages to health service personnel in Cape Town, South Africa TI - Building freeways: piloting communication skills in additional languages to health service personnel in Cape Town, South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/34272 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/34272
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationClaassen J, Jama Z, Manga N, Lewis M, Hellenberg D. Building freeways: piloting communication skills in additional languages to health service personnel in Cape Town, South Africa. BMC Health Services Research. 2017;17(1):174 - 177. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/34272.en_ZA
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Public Health and Family Medicine
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciences
dc.sourceBMC Health Services Research
dc.source.journalissue1
dc.source.journalvolume17
dc.source.pagination174 - 177
dc.source.urihttps://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2313-1
dc.subject.otherSouth Africa
dc.subject.otherLanguage learning
dc.subject.otherCareer-orientated language teaching
dc.subject.otherHealth care barriers
dc.subject.otherMultilingualism
dc.subject.otherHealth care staff
dc.subject.otherAfrikaans and isiXhosa
dc.titleBuilding freeways: piloting communication skills in additional languages to health service personnel in Cape Town, South Africa
dc.typeJournal Article
uct.type.publicationResearch
uct.type.resourceJournal Article
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