How Children of Immigrants Are Developing Health Literacy While Brokering Language in Health Encounters

• In Event: Roundtable Session 53
  In Roundtable Session: Learner Identities and Social Situations of Knowledge Production in an Epoch of Globalization

Abstract

The limited language resources in healthcare create a barrier for many immigrants to access comprehensive health services and information, children of immigrants often bridge the language gap by mediating health related information in clinical and familial spaces. In this paper we explore the health literacy that many children of immigrants develop as a result of their participation as language brokers in health encounters. Based on focus groups with 17 participants, we identify the specialized skills and knowledge required to broker successfully in this domain, and “health literacy” that may be cultivated through this work.

Authors

• Krissia Martinez, University of California - Los Angeles

• Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, University of California - Los Angeles