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. 2022 Feb 3:12:771892.
doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.771892. eCollection 2021.

Evaluation of a Genetics Education Program for Health Interpreters: A Pilot Study

Miranda E Vidgen  1 , Lindsay F Fowles  2   3 , Satrio Nindyo Istiko  3 , Erin Evans  3   4 , Katrina Cutler  5 , Kate Sullivan  5 , Jessica Bean  3 , Louise Healy  3 , Gary Hondow  3 , Aideen M McInerney-Leo  3   6 , Gregory Pratt  1   3 , Deborah Robins  3 , Stephanie Best  7   8 , Keri Finlay  7   9 , Priya Ramarao-Milne  1   10 , Nicola Waddell  1   3
Affiliations

Evaluation of a Genetics Education Program for Health Interpreters: A Pilot Study

Miranda E Vidgen et al. Front Genet. .

Abstract

Health Interpreters enable effective communication between health practitioners and patients with limited knowledge of the predominant language. This study developed and evaluated a training session introducing Health Interpreters to genetics. The online training was delivered multiple times as a single 2-h session comprising lectures and activities. Participants completed questionnaires (pre-, post-, and 6-months follow-up) to assess the impact of training on knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, and self-reported practice behaviour. Questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics, Fisher's Exact, or independent t-test. In total, 118 interpreters participated in the training sessions. Respondent knowledge improved, with gains maintained at 6-months (p < 0.01). There were no changes in self-efficacy, and attitudes. Training did not change self-reported practice behaviour, but there was notable pre-existing variability in participants' methods of managing unknown genetic words. Most respondents agreed that training was useful (93%) and relevant (79%) to their work. More respondents reported learning more from the case study activity (86%) than the group activity (58%). Health Interpreters found the training acceptable and demonstrated sustained improvement in knowledge of genetic concepts. Increased delivery of this training and associated research is needed to assess findings in a larger cohort and to measure the impact on patients.

Keywords: culturally and linguistically diverse; education; evaluation; genetics; genomics; health interpreter; implementation; medical interpreter.

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Conflict of interest statement

NW is a co-founder, minor equity holder, and Board member of genomiQa. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Summary of the training session and evaluation; (A) program logic for training session and evaluation, and (B) training session structure.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Box-plot of questionnaire respondent knowledge pre-post and 6-months follow-up from the training session: (A) the number of correct responses to knowledge questions (Total 10 questions), and (B) the number of times respondents selected the ‘I do not know’ response option for knowledge questions.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Bar graphs of questionnaire respondent level of agreement of practice behaviours when: they do not know the English word used: (A) use the English word, (B) ask health service client to rephrase or explain, (C) use similar word or phrase; and there is no equivalent word in LOTE, (D) use the English word, (E) ask health service client to rephrase or explain, (F) use a similar word or phrase.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Respondent perspectives of the training session. “Overall agreement” is provided as a percentage and is the combined percentage of “agree” and “strongly agree”.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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