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Communication is vital in psychiatry, but it can be impaired when speakers do not share a language or lack language proficiency. The aim of this study is twofold: firstly, we examine how the interpreter’s presence has an impact on communication between psychiatrist and patient in a psychiatric consult; secondly, we explore the possibility to compare two different types of language mediation (in this case, a professional interpreter and Dutch as a foreign language to the patient) through the triangulation of data and analytic methods. In this respect, two psychiatric consultations were video-recorded. Additionally, a retrospective interview was conducted with the psychiatrist. The discursive data were analysed using conversation analysis focusing on turn design, question-answer sequences, and topic development, combined with quantitative elements (e.g. turn count) and the results from a thematic analysis of the interview transcription. The analysis revealed advantages and disadvantages in working with an interpreter and showed some discrepancies between the psychiatrist’s perceptions or expectations and what we found in the discursive data. We conclude that the combination of research methods provides valuable insights into psychiatric consultations with and without an interpreter

In Flanders (Belgium) social interpreters and intercultural mediators help bridge the communication gap between foreign language speaking patients and healthcare workers. This paper reports on a comparative survey among social interpreters and intercultural mediators with a focus on how they perceive their role and tasks as interpreters in a healthcare setting. We examine if this is related to different codes of conduct and task descriptions. The survey showed that intercultural mediators feel that they can take on various roles, and have a whole range of responsibilities and duties, much more than social interpreters. In practice, social interpreters find it difficult to stick to their code of conduct. Another survey among healthcare workers working inside a hospital revealed that, in general, their expectations of an interpreter correspond more to the profile of an intercultural mediator than to the profile of a social interpreter.