Impact of Language Barriers on Patient Education: A Scoping Review

Objective (s):

The purpose of patient education is creating positive behaviors.  However, one of the biggest barriers of effective patient education and communication is differences of language between patients and health care providers. This study aimed to review the impact of language barriers on patient education worldwide.

In this scoping review, papers both in Persian and English related to patient education language barriers were searched using the following databases: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science, ProQuest, Science Direct, Springer, Cochrane library, Google Scholar, MagIran, SID, Iran Doc, IranMedex and Elmnet during 2010 to 2020. The keywords included communication barriers, language barriers, communication, patient education, Bi language, language obstacle in both Persian and English.

In all 8900 citations were retrieved. Of these 16 studies were relevant included in this study. The results of the studies showed a clear association between limited language skills and difficulty in communicating with patients and providing effective patient education, regardless of the research settings.

There is a close relationship between language skills and the provision of educational services to the patient. Lack of sufficient language skills prevents effective communication with patients. However, the limitations of studies that have only examined the effect of language barriers on effective patient education are evident, and there is a need for further studies on the topic.