Health literacy, multilingual communities and mediated interpreting: a possible point of intersection

Abstract

Researchers in the fields of health, oral health, education and psychology have established a causal relationship between levels of education and the status and management of health amongst adults and children. While the emerging fields of health literacy and oral health literacy are establishing research priorities, there is a need for further conceptual work to be done in defining the paradigm, especially given the evolution of health communication theories. This presentation will review the recent conceptual development of health literacy as an emerging science in Anglo-centric communities and will pose some considerations for future development of the paradigm in multilingual communities. Findings from two studies on oral health literacy and mediated interpretation will be discussed in the light of these conceptual developments.