How do different modes of interpreting impact therapeutic alliance in interpreter- assisted counselling?

Abstract

Mental health professionals have reported challenges in building the client-counsellor therapeutic alliance when interpreters are involved (Miller et al., 2005). This research project aims to fill this gap by conducting a small-scale qualitative study to investigate the impact of different interpreting modes on therapeutic alliance in interpreter-assisted counselling for international students. The modes include a fully face-to-face mode (Mode A), an entirely online mode (Mode C), and a mode combining face-to-face counselling with video remote interpreting (Mode B). Three first-year Chinese-speaking university students aged between 18 to 24, with lived experience of mild to moderate psychological distress levels, participated in this study. The student counselling sessions were provided by a clinical psychologist with the assistance of a professional interpreter. Thematic analysis was performed on fifteen semi-structured interviews with the student clients, the counsellor, and the interpreter and three pre- and post-counselling meetings. Also, the observation notes of student counselling sessions were used as supplementary data. In addition, a Chinese version of the 12-item Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (Barrett-Lennard, 2015; Chen et al., 2021; Liao et al., 2018) was administrated to obtain the student clients’ evaluations of the therapeutic alliance. The findings showed that therapeutic alliances were evident across all three modes. However, Mode B was ranked the highest and Mode A the lowest in terms of therapeutic alliance. Second, conflicts were also observed. The physical presence and the performance of the interpreter were the most reported sources of the conflicts. Third, the sources of the conflicts also seemed to create ambivalence for the counsellor, who appreciated the help of the interpreter but was unsure whether the performance of the interpreter would cause potential miscommunications with the student clients. The findings suggested that the current working definition of the therapeutic alliance between the counsellor and the client may need to incorporate the other two dyads, including the relationship between the interpreter and the counsellor, as well as that between the interpreter and the client. In addition, the findings also highlighted the importance of conducting pre-counselling meetings between the interpreter and the client. Additionally, offering flexible interpreting modes for ongoing sessions is recommended.

Date of Award	2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Chong Han (Supervisor)