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Volume 3 ~ November 2011 ~ PreviewISSN # 2150-5772 - This article is the intellectual property of the authors and CIT. If you wish to use this article in your teaching or in another format, please credit the authors and the CIT International Journal of Interpreter Education. |
Using Web-Based Training to Improve Skills Among Bilingual Dual-Role
Staff Interpreters
Maria R. Moreno
[1]
Sutter Health Institute for Research and Education
Regina Otero-Sabogal
Institute for Health and Aging, University of California San Francisco
Christy Soto
Sutter Health Institute for Research and Education
The growing demand for medical interpretation calls for
innovative training approaches. The
authors used a repeated-measures
design with a comparison group to assess the impact of web-based training on the knowledge
and confidence of staff who were hired in an administrative or clinical support
position (e.g., registered nurse)
as their primary role but who also use their bilingual skills to serve a secondary role as interpreter; these individuals are referred to as dual-role
staff interpreters. The authors also explored the association between (a) gender, ethnicity, first and
second language spoken; and level of education and(b) the improvement in knowledge and
confidence. One-hundred fifty dual-role
staff interpreters at a large health care system completed a pre-test followed
by a web-based training and a
post-test. The comparison group included 49 dual-role staff interpreters, all
of whom completed the pre- and
post-tests without taking the training. Mean knowledge scores for the
intervention group increased significantly. Improved knowledge scores for the comparison group were not
statistically significant. Interpreters’ confidence did not improve.
Significant predictors of improved knowledge scores were education and previous
training. Online training could be a
useful tool to enhance interpreters’ skills.
Keywords: interpreters; web-based training; health disparities; limited English proficient (LEP) patients