Agency in Multilingual Health Communication
With people currently migrating or fleeing their countries, multilingual communication in health care and especially consideration of agency on the part of those involved is a challenge to any modern society. Research literature shows that the possibilities and limitations of communication and linguistic processes in medical institutions strongly influence the quality and outcome of health care. Nonetheless, individual societies vary in the ways they approach and cope with it.
The international network for multilingual communication pursues its work in 3 research groups, including in a working group addressing questions of psychological health. With a focus on inpatient and outpatient psychosocial services, the network is analyzing multilingual communication among (health care) experts—among themselves and with their patients, families, and interpreters—in both inpatient and outpatient psychosocial institutions, to identify best practices and ways to improve communication and to develop ideas for future practices.
The technical support working group in multilingual health communication looks at individual applications and the role of large language models with a view to their possibilities and limitations with a focus on personal agency.
The agency in health care for chronic diseases working group focuses especially on living with long Covid and similar diseases, e.g., chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in different societies and language communities. Research focuses on the different aspects of agency and its role in diagnosis, treatment, and coping. It will also look at stigmatization with a view to preventing it and the necessity for new types of medical communication.
The project deepens existing cooperation between the partners and yields new findings thanks to its common interdisciplinary focus on agency in research and improving communication in health care.
Aspects of the topic will be addressed in regular university lectures. Hybrid formats enable the participation of students from the participating universities. Learning material is used by all.