Challenges in the Transition from Acute Hospital Care to Home for Spanish-Speaking Latino Patients with TBI and Families: Perspectives of Healthcare Providers and Interpreters.

Language-based disparities negatively impact patient outcomes. Spanish-speaking Latino patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) transitioning home from acute hospital care and their families have poor TBI-related outcomes; further, they have significant difficulties navigating the healthcare system due to care fragmentation and limited provider support. These challenges are exacerbated by language barriers. There are disproportionately fewer bilingual providers and interpreters in the U.S. healthcare system for patients with TBI for whom English is not their primary language. Although Spanish-speaking Latino patients with TBI and their families communicate with healthcare providers using interpreters on a regular basis, limited research has explored the healthcare delivery perspective. The purpose of this study was to understand the perspectives of healthcare providers and interpreters regarding their experience caring for or supporting Spanish-speaking Latino patients with TBI and their families during the transition home from acute hospital care. This qualitative descriptive study included 10 bilingual (English and Spanish-speaking) participants: 7 interdisciplinary providers and 3 interpreters; findings were analyzed using rapid qualitative analysis to inform intervention adaptation. Four themes were identified: 1) language misalignment decreases health literacy and increases length of stay; 2) TBI-related cognitive impairments, coupled with language differences, make communication challenging; 3) unique social contributors to health directly decrease health equity; and 4) recommendations to improve access and justice in transitional care. There are multiple opportunities to improve transitional care support provided to Spanish-speaking Latino patients with TBI and their families in a manner that is not currently being addressed in research or in practice.

"If you respect me, you are respecting my culture": methods and recommendations for personalizing a TBI transitional care intervention.

OBJECTIVE: Despite research, national legislation, and clinical guidelines supporting transitional care, there is minimal benefit from existing transitional care interventions for racial/ethnic minorities with traumatic brain injury (TBI) discharged home from acute hospital care. Existing TBI transitional care interventions are not tailored to address the needs/preferences of patients from various racial/ethnic minority groups. The purpose of this study was to describe use of personalization to tailor a TBI transitional care intervention for various racial/ethnic groups. DESIGN: Following preliminary intervention manual development, a qualitative descriptive study was conducted using eight focus groups with 40 English-and Spanish-speaking participants (12 patients, 12 caregivers, and 16 providers). RESULTS: Three personalization-related themes emerged: 1) what is important to me, 2) finding someone to deliver the intervention who can adapt to my needs, and 3) respect over culture. Findings informed personalization strategies within our final manual. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend researchers who wish to use personalization to tailor interventions to consider: 1) allowing stakeholders to dictate what is most important and 2) implementing an iterative intervention development process with input from diverse stakeholders. Findings have implications for informing the development of transitional care interventions to increase the likelihood that interventions are inclusive of needs and preferences of various races/ethnicities.