Cross-cultural adaptation of the writer-reader relationship in non-translated and translated English health information websites on HIV and TB diagnostic testing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14198/raei.2024.41.09Keywords:
Cross-cultural adaptation, persuasion, relational and engagement markers, translation, writer-reader relationshipAbstract
The ideal multilingual health information website is relatable to all readers. Natives and immigrants should have a culturally adapted website in their language hosted by their place of residence that imparts the facts and incites a call to action to improve health, and ultimately reduces disease in the diverse community. The writer’s word choices and attitude as conveyed through the text influence the reader’s decision-making process. This paper will examine the differences between the non-translated and translated English versions of multilingual health information websites on HIV and TB diagnostic testing. These samples pertain to a large interdisciplinary study whose purpose is to determine whether the multilingual health communication websites are appropriately written regarding health literacy, and whether each cultural population, in terms of language adaptation, would receive the health information as intended. The study questions whether there exist differences between the translated and non-translated texts in English, Spanish and Catalan; this paper focuses on the two English sub-corpora. A comparable corpus of seventy-three multilingual health information websites underwent a quantitative and a qualitative analysis. The methodology is based on adaptations of Clerehan et al.’s (2005) Evaluative Linguistic Framework to assess the writer-reader relationship. The findings show statistically significant differences between the two English subcorpora as regards the writers’ and translators’ approach; the non-translated English sub-corpus contained more relational and engagement markers, whereas the translated English sub-corpus had more persuasion markers. These results should serve researchers and professionals in the translation and language sciences as well as the public health field for, respectively, future studies and techniques to improve the composition of multilingual health information texts in culturally diverse countries.
References
AIDSinfo. June 20, 2019. "HIV overview: HIV testing." National Institutes of Health (NIH). https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv-aids/fact-sheets/19/47/hiv-testing [Accessed online on October 29, 2019]
Aijón Oliva, Miguel A. 2020. "It can be us or you. The desubjectification of viewpoint through person choice in Spanish oral and written media discourse." Journal of Pragmatics 163: 4-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.04.009
The American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). June 2018. "Basic facts about HIV/AIDS." https://www.amfar.org/About-HIV-and-AIDS/Basic-Facts-About-HIV/#a10 [Accessed online on January 19, 2019]
Batchelor, Kathryn, Lalbila Aristide Yoda, Féridjou Emilie Georgette Sanon Ouattara and Olivia Hellewell. 2019. "Multilingualism and strategic planning for HIV/AIDS-related health care and communication." Wellcome Open Research 4 (200): 1-23. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15584.1
BCN Checkpoint. n.d. "The HIV test." http://www.bcncheckpoint.com/la-prova-del-vih/?lang=en [Accessed online on September 2, 2018]
Cavalieri, Silvia, Maddalena Marchiò, Marina Bondi and Giuseppe Biagini. 2019. "Assessing caregiver informative materials on the ketogenic diet in Italy: A textual ethnographic approach." TOKEN 9: 87-118. http://doi.org/10.25951/2958
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). August 1, 2017. "Get tested." https://www.cdc.gov/actagainstaids/campaigns/doingit/gettested/index.html [Accessed online on January 22, 2019]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 2019. "HIV Testing." https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/testing.html [Accessed online on September 5, 2019]
CESIDA. 2018. "Any questions on… HIV and AIDS?" https://www.cesida.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/INGLES_CESIDA_VIH_Inmigracion.pdf [Accessed online on April 7, 2018]
Chen, Meng, Robert A. Bell and Laramie D. Taylor. 2016. "Narrator point of view and persuasion in health narratives: The role of protagonist-reader similarity, identification, and self-referencing." Journal of Health Communication 21: 908-918. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2016.1177147
Clerehan, Rosemary, Rachelle Buchbinder and Jane Moodie. 2005. "A linguistic framework for assessing the quality of written patient information: its use in assessing methotrexate information for rheumatoid arthritis." Health Education Research 20: 334-344. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyg123
Clerehan, Rosemary, Francis Guillemin, Jonathan Epstein and Rachelle Buchbinder. 2016. "Using the evaluative linguistic framework for questionnaires to assess comprehensibility of self-report health questionnaires." Value in Health 19: 335-342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2016.01.008
Dafouz-Milne, Emma. 2008. "The pragmatic role of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers in the construction and attainment of persuasion: A cross-linguistic study of newspaper discourse." Journal of Pragmatics 40: 95-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2007.10.003
De Cock, Barbara. 2011. "Why we can be you: The use of 1st person plural forms with hearer reference in English and Spanish." Journal of Pragmatics 43: 2762-2775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.04.009
Diani, Giuliana. 2019. "Metadiscourse in web-mediated health communication." Token: A Journal of English Linguistics 9: 13-34. https://doi.org/10.25951/2955
Eggins, Suzanne. 2004. An introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. 2nd ed. New York: Continuum.
Explain TB. n.d. "Essentials on tuberculosis in 41 chapters." https://www.explaintb.org/faq/?lang=en [Accessed online on August 15, 2018]
Garcimartín Cerezo, Paloma, Ma Serra Galceran, Ma González Soriano, La Mestres Camps and JMa Leyva Moral. 2014. "Design and evaluation of an educational course in cultural competence for nursing." Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 132: 262-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.04.308
Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC). n.d. "HIV/AIDS basics." http://www.gmhc.org/hiv-info/hivaids-basics [Accessed online on April 8, 2018]
Grupo de Trabajo Sobre el Tratamiento del VIH. n.d.a. "Infovihtal #32 HIV analysis." http://gtt-vih.org/files/active/0/InfoV_ing_32.pdf [Accessed online on January 14, 2019]
Grupo de Trabajo Sobre el Tratamiento del VIH. n.d.b. "Infovihtal #75 HIV testing." http://gtt-vih.org/files/active/0/InfoV_ing_75.pdf [Accessed online on January 14, 2019]
Guillemin, Francis. 1995. "Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of health status measures." Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology 24(2): 61-63. https://doi.org/10.3109/03009749509099285
Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirkwood and Christian Matthias Matthiessen. 2014. Halliday's introduction to functional grammar, 4th ed. London: Edward Arnold. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203783771
HealthReach. December 18, 2017a. "How can I tell if I have HIV? - HIV/AIDS 101, part 7." https://healthreach.nlm.nih.gov/files/English_HIV-AIDS101-7.pdf [Accessed online on September 30, 2018]
HealthReach. December 18, 2017b. "Why is HIV testing important? - HIV testing, part 1." https://healthreach.nlm.nih.gov/files/English_HIVTesting-1.pdf [Accessed online on September 30, 2018]
HealthReach. December 19, 2017c. "HIV testing and pregnancy - Pregnancy, part 3." https://healthreach.nlm.nih.gov/files/English_Pregnancy-3.pdf [Accessed online on September 30, 2018]
Health Service Executive. March 2014. "Information leaflet for contacts of people with tuberculosis (TB)." https://www.lenus.ie/bitstream/handle/10147/314351/A.%20Information%20Leaflet%20for%20Contacts%20of%20People%20with%20TB.pdf;jsessionid=DB754C93A4B4E3C0B238A48CB76C9C42?sequence=1 [Accessed online on February 22, 2019]
Herrando-Rodrigo, Isabel. 2010. "'If you suffer from… check the Internet': The role of engagement and self-mention devices in medical research articles and electronic popularizations." In Constructing Interpersonality: Multiple Perspectives on Written Academic Genres, edited by Rosa Lorés-Sanz, Pilar Mur-Dueñas and Enrique Lafuente-Millán, 255-274. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Ho, Victor. 2016. "Discourse of persuasion: A preliminary study of the use of metadiscourse in policy documents." Text & Talk 36(1): 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2016-0001
Hochberg, Amy Dara. 2023a. Writer-reader relationship and technicality of vocabulary in multilingual health information websites in English, Spanish, and Catalan. Universitat Pompeu Fabra. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/689217
Hochberg, Amy Dara. December 20, 2023b. "Writer-reader relationship in multilingual health information websites on HIV and TB diagnostic testing: Features of non-translated and translated Catalan texts in comparison with non-translated and translated English and Spanish texts." SKASE Journal of Translation and Interpretation 63(2): 64-87. http://www.skase.sk/Volumes/JTI25/05.pdf
Hoey, Michael. 1991. Patterns of lexis in text. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hofstede, Geert. 2015. "The 6-D model of national culture." Geert Hofstede. https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture [Accessed online on April 17, 2022]
Hyland, Ken. 1998. "Persuasion and context: The pragmatics of academic metadiscourse." Journal of Pragmatics 30: 437-455. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00009-5
Hyland, Ken. 2005. "Stance and engagement: A model of interaction in academic discourse." Discourse Studies 7(2): 173-192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605050365
Hyland, Ken and Feng (Kevin) Jiang. 2018. "'In this paper we suggest': Changing patterns of disciplinary metadiscourse." English for Specific Purposes 51: 18-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2018.02.001
Johnson, Anna Rose, Andres F. Doval, Melisa D. Granoff, Sabine A. Egeler, Miguel G. Bravo, A. Samandar Dowlatshahi, Samuel J. Lin and Bernard T. Lee. 2019. "A comparative multimetric assessment of English and Spanish Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Materials." Journal of Surgical Research 238: 64-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2019.01.032
Kaiser Permanente. 2015. "HIV Testing: Play it safe." https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health/care/!ut/p/a1/hY9Ra4MwFIV_Sx_6GHM1GnVvMe1cKq0tK6vLy0hbpwEbRYNj_362614GYxcu3AvfOYeDJS6wNGrUlbK6Naq5_pK-Pa6e8yRxGeRBHoBYB2m8ohsPuIcPeIVl1bTHG_xaW9s9zGEOH113ao0tjT1NW_ZzwPL7MupS4mKw5wEpc0a1HpHS5-FfteqtPjWTlHjLBQ1ZhAAoQa67JIjxhY-SRchp6CWc-yE-JFimx2bM2dWYmSOJKiz78r3sy96p28Hi4hrrmObiGF07VTtOZeSvvn4cTX35ExebDCD17sCWgYjWELjACAVB9yQL1xsXUv8OABG7m0O6pTCx2T57iTMC8OMAfwwD3F2iT9KMwsZCCzabfQEhoftK/dl5/d5/L0lDUmlTUSEhL3dHa0FKRnNBLzRKVXBDQSEhL2VuX1VT/ [Accessed online on January 22, 2019]
Kelleher, Tom. 2009. "Conversational voice, communicated commitment, and public relations outcomes in interactive online communication." Journal of Communication 59.1: 172-188. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.01410.x
Kemmelmeier, Markus and Waleed A. Jami. 2021. "Mask wearing as cultural behavior: An investigation across 45 U.S. states during the Covid-19 pandemic." Frontiers in psychology 12: 648692. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648692
Lawrentschuk, Nathan, Deborah Sasges, Robert Tasevski, Robert Aboussaly, Andrew M. Scott and Ian D. Davis. 2012. "Oncology health information quality on the internet: a Multilingual evaluation." Annals of Surgical Oncology 19: 706-713. https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-011-2137-x
Martin, J. R. 1998. "Evaluation: An Australian stance." Paper presented at the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association Workshop. University of Sydney.
National Prevention Information Network. 2015. "Cultural Competence." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://npin.cdc.gov/pages/cultural-competence [Accessed online on January 18, 2018]
NYC Health. n.d. "Be sure, play sure, stay sure." https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/ah/beplay-staysure-booklet.pdf [Accessed online on January 22, 2019]
Office on Women's Health. November 21, 2018. "HIV and AIDS." https://www.womenshealth.gov/hiv-and-aids/hiv-and-aids-basics/hiv-testing [Accessed online on January 22, 2019]
Pebody, Roger. September 2015. "HIV testing." NAM AIDSmap. http://www.aidsmap.com/about-hiv/hiv-testing [Accessed online on April 9, 2018]
Petkovic, Jennifer, Jonathan Epstein, Rachelle Buchbinder, Vivian Welch, Tamara Rader, Anne Lyddiatt, Rosemary Clerehan, Robin Christensen, Annelies Boonen, Niti Goel, Lara J. Maxwell, Karine Toupin-April, Maarten De Wit, Jennifer Barton, Caroline Flurey, Janet Jull, Cheryl Barnabe, Antoine G. Sreih, Willemina Campbell, Christoph Pohl, Mehmet Tuncay Duruöz, Jasvinder A. Singh, Peter S. Tugwell and Francis Guillemin. 2015. "Toward ensuring health equity: Readability and cultural equivalence of OMERACT patient-reported outcome measures." The Journal of Rheumatology 42(12): 2448-2459. https://doi.org/10.3899/jrheum.141168
Planned Parenthood. n.d. "Should I get tested for HIV?" https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/stds-hiv-safer-sex/hiv-aids/should-i-get-tested-hiv [Accessed online on January 24, 2019]
POZ. February 10, 2016. "HIV Testing." https://www.poz.com/basics/hiv-basics/hiv-testing [Accessed online on January 22, 2019]
Proctor, Katarzyna, and Lily I-Wen Su. 2011. "The 1st person plural in political discourse - American politicians in interviews and in a debate." Journal of Pragmatics 43: 3251-3266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.06.010
Rew, Lynn, Ashley Saenz and Lorraine O. Walker. 2018. "A systematic method for reviewing and analysing health information on consumer-oriented websites." Journal of Advanced Nursing 74: 2218-2226. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13726
Risk, Ahmad, and Joan Dzenowagis. 2001. "Review of Internet health information quality initiatives." Journal of Medical Internet Research 3(4): e28. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.3.4.e28
San Francisco AIDS Foundation. n.d. "Testing for HIV." http://sfaf.org/hiv-info/testing/ [Accessed online on January 24, 2019]
Sørensen, Kristine, Jürgen M. Pelikan, Florian Röthlin, Kristin Ganahl, Zofia Slonska, Gerardine Doyle, James Fullam, Barbara Kondilis, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Ellen Uiters, Maria Falcon, Monika Mensing, Kancho Tchamov, Stephan van den Broucke and Helmut Brand. 2015. "Health literacy in Europe: Comparative results of the European health literacy survey (HLS-EU)." European Journal of Public Health 25.6: 1053-1058. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckv043
Suau Jiménez, Francisca. 2010. "Metadiscursive elements in the translation of scientific texts." In Linguistic and Translation Studies in Scientific Communication, edited by Maria Luïsa Gea Valor, Isabel García Izquierdo and Maria José Esteve, 86: 243-254. Berlin: Peter Lang.
Taylor, Mariah. 2023. "The world's deadliest infectious diseases." Becker's Clinical Leadership. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/infection-control/the-worlds-deadliest-infectious-diseases.html [Accessed online on November 30, 2023]
Tebble, Helen. 1999. "The tenor of consultant physicians: Implications for medical interpreting." The Translator 5.2: 179-200. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.1999.10799040
TeensHealth from The Nemours Foundation. October 2018. "How to get tested for HIV." https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/hiv-tests.html [Accessed online on September 30, 2018]
Thompson, E. Gregory, Adam Husney, R. Steven Tharratt and W. David Colby IV. June 9, 2019. "Tuberculosis (TB)," English version. Kaiser Permanente. https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/health-encyclopedia/he.tuberculosis-tb.hw207301#hw207425 [Accessed online on October 28, 2019]
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Disease Prevention & Health Promotion. February 27, 2019. "Testing for latent tuberculosis: Questions for the doctor." https://healthfinder.gov/HealthTopics/Category/doctor-visits/talking-with-the-doctor/testing-for-latent-tuberculosis [Accessed online on August 20, 2019]
United States Department of Health & Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. June 27, 2019. "Get tested for HIV." https://healthfinder.gov/HealthTopics/Category/health-conditions-and-diseases/hiv-and-other-stds/get-tested-for-hiv#the-basics_3 [Accessed online on August 18, 2019]
Uskul, Ayse K. and Daphna Oyserman. 2010. "When message-frame fits salient cultural-frame, messages feel more persuasive." Psychology and Health 25.3: 321-337. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870440902759156
Whitman-Walker Health. n.d. "HIV/STI testing." https://www.whitman-walker.org/hiv-sti-testing [Accessed online on January 22, 2019]
Wiriyakijja, Paswach, Stefano Fedele, Stephen Porter and Richeal Ni Riordain. 2016. "Web-based information on the treatment of oral leukoplakia - quality and readability." Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine 45: 617-620. https://doi.org/10.1111/jop.12459
World Health Organization (WHO). July 19, 2018. "HIV/AIDS." http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids [Accessed online on July 16, 2019]
World Health Organization (WHO). October 17, 2019. "Tuberculosis." English version. http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis [Accessed online on November 24, 2019]
Xunta de Galicia Consellería de Sanidade. n.d. "Infection from HIV and AIDS can be prevented, it depends on you." https://www.sergas.es/Saude-publica/Documents/564/Previr%20%C3%A9%20posible.%20De%20n%C3%B3s%20depende.%20Ingl%C3%A9s.pdf [Accessed online on April 7, 2018]
Yu, Wenting, Fei Shen and Chen Min. 2022. "Correcting science misinformation in an authoritarian country: An experiment from China." Telematics and Informatics 66: 101749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2021.101749
Downloads
Statistics
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Amy Dara Hochberg
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.