Communication challenges in the provision of health visitor services to foreign families living in Hungary

Horváth, Agnes (author), Kozár, Vivien Andrea (author)

In Hungary, health visitors play a central role in supporting families during the pre-, peri-, and postnatal periods. As the country becomes linguistically diverse due to globalization and migra-tion, communication with non-Hungarian-speaking families has become a growing challenge. This exploratory quantitative study investigates how language barriers are managed in the oral communication and written information provided to foreign families. Data were collected be-tween April and October 2022 via two online questionnaires: one completed by 48 health visitors, the other by 51 families with at least one non-Hungarian parent. Both questionnaires explored the communication strategies of health visitors and foreign families, focusing on the health vis-itors’ foreign language skills and situations in which key written documents were available only in Hungarian. Descriptive statistics and frequency analyses were used. The findings reveal clear patterns in how language affects communication and access to care. Overall, Hungarian is the primary language of care both de jure and de facto, and limited foreign language proficiency among health visitors often necessitates informal language assistance in both oral and written communication. The study underscores the need for a comprehensive language assistance system to ensure equitable access to care and uphold patients’ fundamental right to understandable health information.

• Language: English
• Keywords: health visitors, language barriers, multilingual healthcare, ad hoc language mediators, foreign families
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 133–159
• Numbering: Vol. 5, issue 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-181279
• UDC: 81'253(439)
• ISSN on article: 2784-5826
• COBISS.SI-ID: 273550851
• Publication date in RUL: 30.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Stridon : journal of studies in translation and interpreting
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2784-5826
• COBISS.SI-ID: 68759811

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Komunikacijski izzivi pri zagotavljanju patronažne zdravstvene nege tujim družinam, ki živijo na Madžarskem

Abstract

Na Madžarskem imajo patronažne sestre centralno vlogo pri podpori družinam v pred-, ob- in poporodnem obdobju. Ker je država zaradi globalizacije in migracij jezikovno vse bolj raznolika, postaja komunikacija z družinami, ki ne govorijo madžarsko, vse večji izziv. V prispevku s pregled-no kvantitativno študijo ugotavljamo, kako se premoščajo jezikovne bariere pri ustnem sporazume-vanju in pisnih informacijah za tuje družine. Podatki so bili zbrani med aprilom in oktobrom 2022 z dvema spletnima vprašalnikoma: enega je izpolnilo 48 patronažnih sester, drugega pa 51 družin z vsaj enim nemadžarskim staršem. Oba vprašalnika poizvedujeta po komunikacijskih strategijah patronažnih sester in tujih družin, pri čemer se osredotočata na znanje tujega jezika patronažnih sester in na situacije, ko so bili ključni pisni dokumenti na voljo samo v madžarščini. Pri analizi smo uporabili opisno statistiko in frekvenčne analize. Rezultati razkrivajo jasne vzorce, kako jezik vpliva na komunikacijo in dostop do oskrbe. Na splošno je madžarščina de iure in de facto primarni jezik oskrbe, omejeno znanje tujih jezikov med patronažnimi sestrami pa pogosto zahteva neformalno jezikovno podporo tako pri ustnem kot pri pisnem sporazumevanju. Študija poudarja potrebo po celovitem sistemu jezikovne podpore, da bi zagotovili enakopravni dostop do oskrbe in uresničili temeljno pravico pacientov do razumljivih zdravstvenih informacij.

• Keywords: patronažne sestre, jezikovne bariere, večjezično zdravstvo, ad hoc jezikovni posredniki, tuje družine