Birthing in German(y):Brazilian Women and Language Use in Maternal Health Settings in Germany

Abstract

Understanding immigrant women's experiences of maternity care is critical if host country care systems are to respond appropriately to increasing migration. Providing interpreting/translation services is an effective way to address the issue, along with interpreter and healthcare professional education. Germany has the largest foreign-born population among European countries, and Brazilian women represent a significant share of the migrant population in the country. Goals: To describe and analyze the meaning Brazilian women assign to their birth experience in Germany, with a focus on a deeper understanding of language use, in order to elaborate on the role of language(s) in maternal health settings, to further education and training of interpreters and healthcare professionals and to potentially inform policymaking. Methods and Theoretical Framework: A qualitative approach will be employed to collect data from unstructured interviews with Brazilian women, in their own language. Number of participants is estimated at 5 to 10 women. Multi-method includes the Ethnography of Communication (EOC) and Corpus-Based-Discourse Analysis (CBDA) of birth stories, within an interpretative theoretical framework of Decolonial Thinking and Interpreting Studies. (AU)