title: Interpreters' experiences of general practitioner-patient encounters.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study interpreters' experiences of problems in cross-cultural communication with special regard to the general practitioner (GP)-patient encounter.
  
  
  METHODS
  A focus-group interview with authorized interpreters was carried out. A phenomenographic method was used in the analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Primary health care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The interpreters displayed a number of problems mainly related to the difficulty in balancing the triad relation (GP-patient-interpreter), the role of the interpreter in relation to other healthcare staff, the time aspects of the translation procedure, and the problems of diverse health beliefs and cultural inequalities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The interpreters notice a set of difficulties that need to be highlighted in order to improve consultations with cross-cultural GP-patient encounters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Health Care, Göteborg University, Sweden. nabi.fatahi@allmed.gu.se
authors.forename: Nabi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fatahi
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mattsson
authors.forename: Jasaf
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hasanpoor
authors.forename: Carola
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Skott
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D013548:Sweden / Q000208:ethnology; D014175:Translating