Reflections on the sign language interpreter performance mediating the clinical assessment in mental health service

Abstract

The mediation of the relationship between psychiatrist and deaf patient by the Sign Language Interpreter must take into account aspects often overlooked in interactions outside the healthcare setting. Atypical expressions of sign language may occur in this relationship as a result of psychiatric disorders, requiring of the Sign Language Interpreter to be sensitive and able to perform the interpretation process effectively by providing to the Doctor the necessary information for the composition of the diagnosis and follow-up. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the work of the Sign Language Interpreter during the mediation of communication of doctor-patient relationship in a mental health outpatient clinic of a tertiary hospital in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The discussion will focus on pragmatic issues and on the analysis and interpretation of the quality of signing taking as the organizing line the data commonly observed in the Mental Examination conducted by a psychiatrist, with the performance of the Sign Language Interpreter. The performance of the Sign Language Interpreter in a professional medical mediation is crucial to the conduct of the diagnosis in mental health clinic and influences the quality of care. Linguistic aspects that can be expressed in an atypical way of signing should not be omitted by the Sign Language Interpreter, but served impartially, from those that cause communicative breaks in the interaction to those that, even without causing communicative breaks, carry pertinent informations  to the medical history and therapy management.