Handbook of Intercultural Communication in Health Care (Handbooks of Applied Linguistics [HAL])

Linguistic and cultural diversities are raising profound challenges and new opportunities for health practitioners, consumers, and researchers in applied linguistics. On a global scale, increasing mobility, changing demographics and health practices are adding to this complexity in all areas of health provision. The Handbook of Intercultural Communication in Health Care provides a wide-ranging view of methodological and conceptual directions in the field, bringing together established and emergent researchers and practitioners from diverse geographical regions, health specialisations, and sites of communication. This unique grouping offers insights into domains of research that are at the forefront in exploring and addressing issues of communication in this complex landscape. The five sections cover issues raised by expertise and accountability; trust, ethics and autonomy; access and equity; teams and collaboration; and education and training. Prominent researchers introduce and contextualise the key themes addressed in each section and invited health professionals engage with these themes through the lens of clinical practice. In this way, the book is the first to establish a bridge between research and practice: it provides a distinctive focus on the relevance of intercultural communication research in health care, the range of modes of involvement of participants, practitioners and researchers, and the subsequent impact of research on lives, practices, professions and organisations.