projects
International Conference for Science and Practice
Global Perspectives on Multilingualism in (Mental) Healthcare
26 + 27 June 2026, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
Due to international and internal migration as well as local ethnic diversity most societies worldwide have a wealth of different languages at their disposal.
Nevertheless, patients who do not speak the same language as their health care provider are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to accessing healthcare services and ensuring adequate treatment quality. Health care providers often rely on family members or cleaning staff as interpreters or have to resort to machine translation.
Despite these challenges for patients as well as health care providers worldwide, most health facilities and systems lack standardized approaches to interpreting services, multilingual orientation, or policies that address linguistic diversity comprehensively.
This conference brings together researchers from various disciplines, health care providers, artists and experts from various fields to discuss advantages and limitations of current approaches from multiple perspectives and to present new ways of providing communication besides languages barriers.
The varied programme includes lectures, seven workshops, a best practice pitch session and a panel discussion.
By linking research, clinical experience, and stakeholders’ expertise the conference intends to develop sustainable solutions to improve health equity and to strengthen global health systems.
We look forward to your visit, networking together and strengthening a topic that has been largely neglected in global healthcare to date.
There will be no participation fees for the conference.
Register here: conference | Mim2m
MiM2M
Multilingualism in providing quality mental health care to migrants – needs, resources and practices
Funding
”La Caixa” Foundation (Spain), Wellcome Trust (UK), Volkswagen Foundation (Germany) and Novo Nordisk Foundation (Denmark)
Duration
2022 – 2026 ( 4 years)
PI
Mike Mösko, Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
Partner
Barbara Schouten, Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ted Sanders, Department of Languages, Literature and Communication, Utrecht University, Netherlands
Leslie Swartz, Department of Psychology & Christine Anthonissen, Department of General Linguistics, Stellenbosch University, South-Africa
Razvan Chereches, Department of Public Health, College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Summary
This international and interdisciplinary project aims to enhance the quality of health care systems for migrants by mitigating language barriers in the context of mental health care, thereby improving the patient-provider communication process and subsequent outcomes such as treatment quality and satisfaction. The project will be conducted in collaboration between five country groups: Germany, Romania, Netherlands, China and South Africa.
We aim to
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to understand how (mental) health care providers and migrant patients perceive language barriers
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to develop solutions to overcome language barriers on an individual and organisational level
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to support local migrant communities to access (mental) health services
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to support young researchers and promote exchange across countries
Find more information about the project here:
Completed projects:
MENTALHEALTH4ALLl
Development and implementation of a digital platform for the promotion of access to mental healthcare for low language proficient third-country nationals in Europe (MHEALTH4ALL)
Funding
Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (European Commission)
Duration
01.01.2022 – 30.06.2025
PI
Barbara Schouten, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Partner
University of Surrey, Great Britain
University of Alcalá, Spain
Free University Brussels, Belgium
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
Vilnius University, Lithuania
University of Warsaw, Poland
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia
University of Genova, Italy
Stichting Gezondheid Allochtonen Nederland, Netherlands
Associatie Marokkaans Artsen Nederland, Netherlands
European Network for Public Service Interpreting
Summary
During a three-year multidisciplinary trajectory, leading academics and non-academics (e.g. linguists, clinical and social psychologists, communication scientists, migrant and healthcare provider organisations, public service interpreters), will develop, implement and evaluate an evidence-based multilingual culturally-sensitive sustainable digital information and communication platform to enhance access to mental healthcare for third-country nationals (TCNs) with low language proficiency (LLP) in the host country’s language across various European healthcare settings. The following target groups will be included: refugees, asylum seekers, other migrant patient groups suffering from mental health issues, healthcare providers, interpreters and cultural mediators, policy makers and NGOs. To achieve a comprehensive overview of resources, needs, barriers and strategies to accessing mental healthcare services and accomplish maximum outcomes relevant to other European projects, TCNs of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds will be included to adequately represent the minority populations in the participating countries. The action has three interrelated objectives following a bottom-up approach. First, it aims to bring together academics, civil society stakeholders, healthcare providers and policy makers through networking activities and an online platform. Second, it aims to map both existing language support resources for TCNs in mental healthcare and identify barriers, needs and strategies in accessing mental healthcare services on a micro, meso and macrolevel. Third, it aims to evaluate innovative multilingual communication strategies to mitigate obstacles and promote access to mental healthcare for LLP TCNs. Together, these aims will deepen our understanding of how to promote access to mental healthcare services for LLP TCNs and lead to a sustainable digital multilingual information and communication platform that will be implemented into healthcare practice.
Find more information here: