ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of key themes and issues in intercultural health care communication in both front- and back-stage encounters. It assesses the complexities and the contested nature of the conceptual, terminological, and methodological landscape of intercultural health care communication research and also evaluates how these complexities shape understandings of culturally competent care. Reflecting the emphases within existing scholarship, the chapter reports on research exploring dyadic encounters in sites such as hospitals and primary care between providers and patients, who do not share the same language and/or ethnocultural background and where primarily the patient, but in some cases the provider, is a minority speaker. It also reviews research investigating triadic encounters which involve formal and informal interpreters. The chapter places a particular focus on insights from applied linguistic and discourse analytic research.
The authors identify the potential challenges of cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity with regard to the process of health care communication, such as the provider–patient relationship, patient centredness and decision making, and the quality of care. Finally, the chapter highlights significant gaps in existing scholarship and proposes future directions in research, which take account of the changing constellation of consultations.
