Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-9-2020

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Modern Languages

First Advisor

Felice Coles

Second Advisor

Luanne Buchanan

Third Advisor

Douglass Sullivan-González

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This study investigates the perceptions of pre-health students regarding which clinical interpretation options are most effective, while also assessing their personal proficiencies of the Spanish language. Information obtained from the research survey provides a basis of research that may aid in assessing trends of interpretation services, allowing for improvements to be made to these services prior to the influx of Hispanic/Latino residents into Mississippi. This investigation is entirely conducted at the University of Mississippi and includes the ideas of undergraduate pre-medical students, pre-pharmacy students, pre-PA (physician’s assistant) students, pre-PT (physical therapy) students, pre-speech therapy students, and pre-nursing students. After 61 undergraduate students provided responses to the survey via SurveyMonkey, health professionals at the University of Mississippi were asked to provide commentary on the results, indicating preferences for bilingual doctors serving interpreting functions. The most significant results of this study support previous research on Spanish interpreters in the health care professions. Pre-med students at the University of Mississippi are indeed following the norms for the rest of the nation in recognizing a need for Spanish bilingual doctors and professionally trained in-person interpreters in the clinical setting. The surprising results, however, indicate that pre-med students at the University of Mississippi believe that Spanish bilingual doctors and professionally trained in-person interpreters offer more accessible and affordable services than previous research signifies.

Accessibility Status

Searchable text

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.