Introduction:

Technological tools to overcome language barriers in MHC

The workshop will be part of an interdisciplinary and international research project on multilingualism in providing quality mental health care to migrants (MiM2M) funded by the VW Foundation. It includes five high- and middle-income countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, China and South Africa. The four-year project started in October 2022. 

The MiM2M project consists of five work packages: 

WP 1: Identify current policies and practices of health care systems in multilingual settings, on a macro- and meso-level.

WP 2: Assess barriers and resources in the communication on a micro and meso-level from the perspectives of mental healthcare professionals, migrant service users and their supporters/relatives, formal and informal interpreters and stakeholders.

WP 3: Quality assessment of technological devices and their applicability in (mental)healthcare.

WP 4: (A) Development of recommendations for mental health care providers (MHCP) addressing language and cultural capacity gaps in providing services to people with mental disorders, and (B) development of information tools for migrants towards coping mechanisms in multilingual health care settings.

WP 5: Development and pilot-testing of a training for local (M)HCPs to strengthen contextually appropriate multilingual health communication. 

The Brocher call for workshops in 2025 addresses the ethical, legal and social implications of new medical developments. The proposal for our workshop is part of work package 3 "Quality assessment of technological devices and their applicability in (mental) healthcare", which aims to assess the applicability of technological tools as a new medical development to overcome language barriers in mental healthcare settings in different contexts (Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, China and South Africa). The work package consists of 

1) a scoping review,
2) a qualitative interview study with migrant service users and their supporters/relatives, mental healthcare providers, formal and informal interpreters and stakeholders,
3) a quantitative cross-sectional survey among mental healthcare providers.

This work package aims to develop recommendations for using technological tools to overcome language barriers in mental health care, tailored to specific contexts/countries and their resources. Please see “Workshop enclosures” for a detailed project and work package description. 

Aims of the workshop at the Brocher Foundation in January 2025:

Invite people with expertise in data, software and app development as well as experts in ethics and technology: Our interdisciplinary research team consists of psychologists and psychotherapists, physicians, linguists, epidemiologists, political scientists and global public health researchers from five different countries. In the context of our research on technological tools to overcome language barriers in mental health care, we would like to use the Brocher workshop to invite people with expertise in data, software and app development as well as experts in ethics and technology from different countries to discuss our research findings and the possibilities for technological tools (e.g. a mobile app) to overcome language barriers in different contexts (e.g. in contexts without reliable internet connection). 

According to the project plan, we will have published the final results of the scoping review at the time of the planned workshop at the Brocher Foundation. We will also have conducted, transcribed and translated the guideline interviews with migrant service users and their supporters, (informal) interpreters, health professionals and stakeholders in all five countries (n = 210 in total). In addition, all country-specific analyses of the interviews will be completed by the end of 2024. Based on this, the objectives for the Brocher workshop are: 

1. We would like to present and discuss the country-specific findings of the interview study conducted in all five countries on experiences, attitudes, needs and suggestions of migrant service users, their supporters/relatives, mental health service professionals, interpreters and stakeholders about the use of technological tools to overcome language barriers in the context of mental health care. We aim to identify differences and similarities between the different contexts in the use of technological tools when service users and providers do not speak the same language and to summarize key themes for a cross-national publication on technological tools in mental health care. 
2. In addition, we aim to develop first general and context/country-specific recommendations for mental health service providers on the use of technological tools. 
3. Furthermore, we want to jointly develop topics for the quantitative survey on the experiences, attitudes, needs and suggestions of mental health service providers on the use of technological tools to overcome language barriers in mental health care. We will discuss possible differences in the online survey between countries/contexts and develop a first draft of the questionnaire for the online cross-sectional study.
4. We will collaboration and exchange with invited experts in the fields of data, software and app development as well as ethics and technology in health care. We want to discuss our research findings with them and discuss the implications for their fields. In cooperation with the experts and based on our research findings, we aim to identify: 
   - suitable types of software/apps  (e.g. fixed phrases, machine translation or artificial intelligence),
   - setting and context specifics (e.g. in-patient or out-patient settings, rural areas without reliable internet),
   - features that such apps should have and which of them are technically feasible,
   - features for different types of conversation in mental health care services (e.g. diagnostic, treatment process, medication plan),
   - ethical issues, quality management and data protection of technological tools in mental health care settings. 
5. Additionally, we also aim to promote our young researchers through strategic academic exchange. 
6. We will conduct a steering commitee meeting with the senior researchers / project leaders from each countries (co-applicants).