State Variations in Linguistic Competency Policies and the Effects on Immigrant Acces to Health Services
Project Summary:
This study evaluates the effectiveness of state language policies in improving access to health services for immigrant populations. States play an important role in the provision of health services, but face many challenges in addressing the healthcare needs of their growing non-english speaking immigrant population. There is considerable state variation in policies dealing with language barriers in the health system and little empirical knowledge as to whether these policies work.
Project Description:
The proposed dissertation study examines the effects of state language policies on the access to health services among immigrants—many of whom are limited English proficient (LEP) and likely to face language barriers. Under federal civil rights law, states are required to ensure that their health systems are accessible to LEP persons. However, due to the lack of oversight and enforcement, a broad "patchwork" of state policies has emerged. In the literature, efforts have been made to describe and catalogue the broad array of state policies as well as to highlight state models, such as California or Washington. However, whether these state policies are effective in improving access to health services among the immigrant population has not been empirically tested and thus, is still not clearly understood. Past studies examining the effectiveness of language service interventions have been largely based in a single setting (such as a hospital or clinic) and do not account for state variation.
Project Investigator(s):
Bruce Jansson
Research Period: 05/01/09 - 04/30/10
Funding Source: Gerontological Society of America
Total Award Amount: $ 25,000
