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An investigation of the adequacy of psychiatric interviews conducted through an interpreter

Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan

Christopher F. Fear, Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry^*

Severn NHS Trust, Wotton Lawn Hospital, Horton Road, Gloucester G1 3PX

Femi Oyebode, Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry

Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital, Mindelsohn Way, Off Vincent Drive, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2QZ

^* Correspondence

We evaluated clinical information gained directly from 10 English-speaking and from 10 non-English-speaking subjects both directly and through interpreter-mediated interviews. High levels of agreement between raters, when assessing both cohorts, were found for all data with a non-significant tendency towards better agreement in the Asian than the English-speaking sample for family history data. Analysis of the interview contents showed a number of errors of interpretation which were similar to those noted in previous studies. The addition of quantitative data represents a significant advantage over previous studies, allowing the qualitative results to be placed into perspective. Recommendations are made for optimising and avoiding the pitfalls of interpreter-mediated interviews.

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