The role of participants is to identify factors that increase or decrease the accessibility, acceptability and persuasiveness of prenatal health education materials intended for women whose cultural and linguistic backgrounds are similar to their own. Current trends in managed care make this research timely. This transfer makes MCO populations suddenly and increasingly diverse. For example, CareOregon translates materials into 9 languages. This has led to an emerging awareness of the dangers of literal translation, notably diversity among native speakers and cultural subtleties in language.
Experts recommend developing original materials in members' native languages.
However, that usually is not feasible. The year-long research project will document practical processes directly involving monolingual and bilingual learners in developing adaptations of English source materials that are easily understood by a wide variety of native speakers. CHER is affiliated with the University of Washington Schools of Medicine and Public Health and Community Medicine. It is a regional resource for cross-cultural health education. On the dangers of literal translation This collection of stories illustrates the importance of involving the learners in translating and adapting materials to other languages and cultures.