4.9
| Project Coordinator and partners | Pressure Line, Dialoge, FLEP - Formação, Língua e Estudos Portugueses Lda, Soros International House – SIH, KuTu Ltd., IFES, SYNTHESIS Center for Research & Education Ltd., UMF Gr t Popa. |
Title & Reference code | Take Care Project / 526736-LLP-2012-NL-GRUNDTVIG-GMP. |
Language | English |
| Duration | November 2012 - October 2014 |
| Description | Especially in the EU, more and more people settle to live in a new country. They face though many challenges before they can feel a part of the new society and function properly in the new surroundings. Serious problems arise especially when they need medical help. Because of lack of language skills and lack of basic knowledge on the healthcare system in the new country they become extremely vulnerable compared to the local population. There is also another group of people, belonging to low-skilled and/or elderly migrant societies, who have lived in the country for many years, that experiences communication problems when paying a visit to a doctor or other healthcare provider because of lack of specific language knowledge. When facing these problems migrants often rely on family members to help them. This is especially inadequate when children are involved in the health problems of their parents and are used as interpreters. Not only migrant patients are confronted with these communication problems. Also healthcare providers find it difficult to help people when they cannot properly communicate with them. Effective patient-provider encounters are based on mutual understanding between providers and patients. When a provider cannot communicate effectively about a disease and treatment or when a patient cannot describe an experience of illness, it becomes difficult to build the trust in the provider-patient relationship. Language barriers often negatively effect the communication. They can result in misdiagnosis, medication errors and potentially fatal mistakes that are costly for both patients and providers. The aims of the project are to help migrants gain language skills about health matters in a new language and improve their integration; to create a European wide network of associated partners and contribute to intercultural communication |
Key words | Health care, health care systems, migrants, migrant integration, language learning, health literacy |
Link to the project's website | |
Other interesting information | The project has been selected as a good practise and a success story by the European Commission. |
Interest for the project | 4/5 |
| Contributor´s name + email | SYNTHESIS Center for Research and Education / golfo.kateva@synthesis-center.com, alexis@synthesis-center.com |