• Amanda M Gutierrez, Emily E Statham, Jill O Robinson, Melody J Slashinski, Sarah Scollon, Katie L Bergstrom, Richard L Street, D Williams Parsons, Sharon E Plon, and Amy L McGuire.
• Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA. Electronic address: ag3@bcm.edu.
• Patient Educ Couns. 2019 May 1; 102 (5): 895-901.

ObjectivesTo describe how linguistic tools used by interpreters during return of genomic sequencing results may have impacted communication with Spanish-speaking families, and to discuss the implications for the role of medical interpreters.MethodsUsing discourse analysis, we identified and categorized the various ways hospital-based interpreters adapted clinicians' language in 37 audio-recorded sessions in which Spanish-speaking parents participating in a clinical trial received their child's genomic sequencing results from English-speaking clinicians.ResultsWe found that interpreters adapted clinicians' statements using five empathic linguistic tools: contextualization, encouragement, checking comprehension, endearment, and softening. Interpreters used an average of four linguistic tools per session, with contextualization and encouragement being the most frequently used.ConclusionsInterpreters used empathic linguistic tools to alter clinicians' statements when communicating genomic information to Spanish-speaking families. Our findings demonstrate the critical role of interpreters as cultural mediators and facilitators of understanding for Spanish-speaking families.Practice ImplicationsThis study expands upon the definition of clinical empathy in interpreter-mediated sessions. Our findings suggest that revisions of standards of medical interpretation practice may be warranted regarding interpreters' ability to adapt clinicians' language in a culturally sensitive manner during interpretation.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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