Multilingual support in HIV/ STD counselling in Flanders.

In this article, we explore the multiple challenges faced by health service providers and immigrant patients when addressing sensitive issues in the context of HIV/STD counselling. To do so, we adopt a case-study approach which enables a deeply contextualised examination of the interactional process. The analysis will draw particular attention to the issue of contextual common ground, or the lack thereof, and how this correlates with the complex interactional conditions of the encounter. These conditions entail a combination of challenges, including the use of ad hoc interpreters on sensitive topics, in a remote, non-face-to-face constellation and with the use of digital support tools that are not equally accessible for all participants. We argue that this accumulation of multilingual, multimodal and multi-contextual challenges engenders the emergence of parallel tracks and limited consonance between institutional-counselling concerns on the one hand and experiential-patient concerns on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]