ArticleInternational journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being2025
Language - a vital pill missing in patients' treatment: language barriers during cancer care through the eyes of patients and families.
Article in International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Patient and clinician experiences of language barriers in Qatar's multilingual public mental health care: a qualitative study.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2026Article
- Remote interpretation during in-person medical encounters: Perspectives from professional Spanish-language interpreters.Patient education and counseling · 2026Article
- Disparities in initiating standard first-line cancer treatment and survival for patients with an immigrant background: a Danish register-based cohort study.Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) · 2026Observational
- Exploring transitions in care for individuals living with and beyond cancer: A qualitative study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Social media for healthcare professionals in oncology: results from a cross-sectional survey conducted across eight countries in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.Future oncology (London, England) · 2026Article
- Interactions With Relatives of Critically Ill Non-Western Immigrants: Do We Have a Blind Spot?Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
purposeWhen serious illness occurs, effective communication is essential but challenged by language barriers. This study explores how patients with limited Danish proficiency and their families experience language barriers during cancer care in two Danish public hospitals.
methodAdopting a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach, the study stresses narratives in understanding participants' lived experiences. Accordingly, nine qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 informants, including nine patients and eight relatives. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim.
resultsBased on analysis, three themes were identified: 1) A history of pain behind the language barrier; 2) Linguistic pain-a feeling of being trapped in mother tongue; and 3) Barriers and pathways to linguistic safety. The findings reveal that painful stories were not only brought into the hospital but continued there. Painful feelings associated with being unable to communicate directly with the healthcare professionals seemed inescapable, but continuity of empathetic care providers, including professional interpreters, increased the well-being of both patients and family members.
conclusionLanguage barriers not only make patients more susceptible to misunderstandings and medical errors but amplify experiences of pain during cancer care. The generated knowledge from this study emphasizes language as a foundational element in advancing more equitable cancer care.
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