ABSTRACT
Over the years, author's research program has involved three large studies. The research took place in 2003-2004 during his doctoral program. Three data sets were collected during this period, including approximately 15 hours of medical encounters assisted by professional Mandarin Chinese interpreters. He focused on understanding interpreter's perspectives and practices of bilingual health communication. All interpreters included in this study were considered professional interpreters in healthcare settings, including the volunteer interpreters from Agency B. The majority of interpreters had participated in a 40-hour training course developed by the Cross Cultural Health Care Program (CCHCP), which has been viewed as an industry-recognized training program for professional interpreters. The data included is part of a larger longitudinal study conducted, examining the illness experiences of patients who were newly diagnosed with gynecologic cancer. For this study, we examined data collected during the patient's first medical visit, including only interactions between the patients and the oncologists.
