Files
Download Full Text (414 KB)
Date of Graduation
5-2025
Description
Abstract:
Problem. Children from households that speak languages other than English (LOE) face significant challenges in accessing healthcare, which can lead to poorer health outcomes and inadequate medical care (Flores et al., 2005). Language barriers contribute to these disparities, often resulting in diminished communication between healthcare providers and families (Ramirez et al., 2023). In pediatric primary care, visit duration—defined as the amount of time between when a patient is checked into and out of the clinic—may play a crucial role in facilitating effective communication and improving patient satisfaction (Tsiga et al., 2013). Physicians experience significant time pressure and productivity expectations, but shorter visits that enhance efficiency are associated with lower patient satisfaction (Tocher et al., 1999). While some studies suggest physician spend similar time with LOE and English-speaking patients (Tocher et al. 1999), other suggest longer visit duration in LOE appointments (Kravitz et al., 2000). But, interpreter-facilitated visits are likely to require twice as much time as language-congruent medical visits, since interpretation requires everything to be repeated at least once. This study explores how language barriers affect visit satisfaction in pediatric primary care and whether visit duration acts as a mediator. We hypothesize that caregivers of patients from LOE households will have comparable visit durations than those from English-preferring households; however, because they are likely to have received less information in that same period of time, we expect they will report less satisfaction with their visit.
Publication Date
2025
Document Type
Poster
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Public Health
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Health, Human Performance and Recreation
Advisor/Mentor
Bridges, Ana
Committee Member
Davis, Robert
Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Health Services Research
Keywords
Research-Based
Citation
Miller, G., Vazquez, L., Ho, J., Maynor, E., Allen, E. L., Fradley, M. F., Ruiz, J., & Bridges, A. J. (2025). Understanding the Impact of Language Barriers and Visit Duration on Caregiver Satisfaction in Pediatric Primary Care. 2025 Honors Symposium. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/coesym25/8
