EmpathicCare4All. Study protocol for the development of an educational intervention for medical and interpreting students on empathic communication in interpreter-mediated medical consultations. A study based on the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework phases 0-2. (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Doctors express empathy infrequently and they do not respond sufficiently to patients’ emotional statements. Empathy is compromised even more in cross-cultural and linguistically diverse healthcare settings where doctor-patient communication is mediated by interpreters. Empathy in interpreter-mediated clinical communication has received insufficient attention in medical education and even less in interpreter education. This project aims to develop a research-based educational intervention for undergraduate medical- and interpreting students on empathic communication in interpreter-mediated consultations. The project relies on the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework for the development and evaluation of complex interventions (phases 0-2). Phase 0: 1. Systematic literature reviews on i) complex interventions on clinical communication training between medical students and students from a different field of study, ii) on cross-cultural and interlingual clinical communication training, iii) emotion management in interpreter-mediated consultations. 2. Analysis of video recorded interpreter-mediated consultations by means of the Empathic Communication Coding System (ECCS) and multimodal interaction analysis. 3. Verification of findings by means of video-stimulated recall interviews with doctors, patients and interpreters. Phase 1: Development of training intervention and validation. Phase 2: Feasibility testing and proof-of-concept study/ event. The transfer of the findings into the curricula of both faculties will pave the way for better trained professionals who will be able to co-construct and manage empathic communication more effectively in linguistically and culturally diverse contexts. Both groups of professionals will help improve the health and well-being of patients with linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds, who might often experience a bias and inequality in the provision of healthcare. Interpreters trained to perform in specialized clinical settings and doctors trained to work in linguistically and culturally diverse settings will enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of hospitals and other healthcare centers and public services in which they operate, contributing, in this way, to better social welfare and social cohesion.