UWB Crest

School of Healthcare Sciences

Language Awareness in Health and Social Care

Language and Cultural Awareness in Health and Social Care

Focusing on language and cultural awareness in health and social care, this stream of work includes mainly policy driven research to enhance the evidence base for language and cultural awareness in health and social care.

Gwerfyl Roberts is a research associate at the new ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism that is supporting language work relevant to bilingual Wales.

Gwerfyl Roberts – theme group leader - is also co-founder of LLAIS, the Language Awareness Infrastructure Support Service for CRC Cymru funded by WORD
Co-Directors: Gwerfyl Roberts gwerfyl.w.roberts@bangor.ac.uk
Professor Fiona Irvine F.Irvine@ljmu.ac.uk
www.LLais.org.uk

Our current research initiatives include:

• Mesur Iechyd Cymru. As a LLAIS research development group this work supports the use of Welsh-medium health and social care research instruments in Wales and advances methods of translation and validation at a national and international level.
Contact: Dr Bethan Henderson b.j.henderson@bangor.ac.uk

• FFLACH, Forum for Language Awareness in Child Health. As a LLAIS research development group this work supports the awareness and use of the Welsh language in health and social care provision for children and young people.
Contact: Dr Jim Richardson jrichar3@glam.ac.uk
Jaci Huws j.huws@bangor.ac.uk

• Twf and Onwards: Impact Assessment and the Way Forward. This 3 year research project, commissioned by the Welsh Language Board, studies a sample of parents and assesses the influence of Twf on their decisions about language transmission in the family.
Contact: Dr Llinos Spencer l.spencer@bangor.ac.uk

• Welsh Language Awareness in Nurse Education. This project focuses on the development of a distance learning programme to help student nurses understand the importance of language awareness in relation to the research process.
Contact: Gwerfyl Roberts gwerfyl.w.roberts@bangor.ac.uk
Siobhan Tranter s.tranter@bangor.ac.uk

• Cross-Cultural Aspects of Student Nurse Education and Empowerment. A number of visits by members of the research team to Japan have provided valuable opportunities to examine aspects of student nurse education and empowerment.
Contact: Caroline Bradbury Jones hsse12@bangor.ac.uk

• Welsh Language Board PhD Studentship
Contact: Gwilym Siôn ap Gruffudd hss610@bangor.ac.uk

• HEFCW Welsh-medium PhD Studentship
Contact: Ruth Wyn Williams r.w.williams@bangor.ac.uk

Research Grants Awarded

 

Year Study Title Research Portfolio Funding Body Award
2007-2008 Language Awareness in Health and Social Care Research: A Self-Directed Learning Pack for Nurse Education. www.llais.org.uk Higher Education Funding Council for Wales £5,000
2007-2010 PhD Scholarship Welsh Language Board £45,000
2007-2010 PhD Scholarship Higher Education Funding Council for Wales £45,000
2006-2009 LLAIS: Language Awareness Infrastructure Support Service for CRC Cymru Wales Office for Research and Development in Health and Social Care £297,040
2005-2008 Twf and Onwards: Impact Assessment and the Way Forward. Welsh Language Board £214,000
2005 Scoping Study of Language Awareness in Health and Social Care Wales Office for Research and Development in Health and Social Care £14,000
2003-2004 A Study of Welsh Language Awareness in Healthcare Provision in Wales.   Welsh Assembly Government £89,000
2001-2003 Bilingual Initiatives in Midwifery Education   Welsh Assembly Government £100,000

Publications

2007
Bradbury-Jones C., Irvine F. & Sambrook S (2007) Empowerment of nursing students in the United Kingdom and Japan: a cross-cultural study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 59(4), 379-387.

Irvine F, Roberts G, Tranter S, Williams L & Jones P (2007) (in press). Using the critical incident technique to explore student nurses' perceptions of language awareness. Nurse Education Today. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2007.02.010.

Roberts G & Irvine F (2007) LLAIS Briefing Paper 2: Language Awareness in Health and Social Care Research Governance. University of Wales Bangor. Download from: http://www.bangor.ac.uk/llais/brief/Papur%20Briffio%202.pdf

Roberts G, Irvine F, Jones P, Spencer L, Baker C & Williams C (2007) Language awareness in the bilingual healthcare setting: a national survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 44, 1177-1186.

Spencer L, Roberts G, Irvine F, Jones P, Baker C (2007) Using Cluster Analysis to Explore Survey Data. Nurse Researcher 15, 1, 37-54.

2006
Irvine F, Roberts G, Jones P, Spencer L, Baker C & Williams C (2006) Communicative sensitivity in the bilingual healthcare setting: A qualitative study of language awareness. Journal of Advanced Nursing 53, 4, 1-13.

Roberts G & Irvine F (2006) LLAIS Briefing Paper 1: Language Appropriate Practice in Health and Social Care. University of Wales Bangor. Download from: http://www.bangor.ac.uk/llais/brief/LLAIS_ORG.pdf

2005
Prys D, Roberts G & Paden L (2004) Geiriadur Bydwragedd Baillliere. (1st Welsh edition). University of Wales Bangor.

Roberts G, Irvine F, Richardson J, Earles C, Gareth E & Prys R (2005) Report on a
Scoping Study of Language Awareness in Health and Social Care. University of
Wales Bangor. Download from: http://www.word.wales.gov.uk/content/networks/language-e.pdf

2004
Hanley, J. R., Masterson, J., Spencer, L. H., & Evans, D. (2004). How long do the advantages of learning to read a transparent orthography last? An investigation of the reading skills and reading impairment of Welsh children at 10 years of age. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57A, 8, 1393-1410.

Roberts G, Irvine F, Jones P, Baker C & Williams C (2004) Report of a Study of
Welsh Language Awareness in Healthcare Provision in Wales. Welsh Assembly
Government, Cardiff. Download from: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/documents/415/ACF3394.pdf

Spencer, L. H., & Hanley, J.R. (2004). Learning a transparent orthography at five years old: reading development of children during their first year of formal reading instruction in Wales. Journal of Research in Reading, 27 (1), 1-14.

Spencer, L. H., Edwards, M., Prys, D. & Thomas, E. M. (Eds.) (2004). Geiriadur Termau Seicoleg/Dictionary of Terms for Psychology. School of Psychology, University of Wales, Bangor. ISBN: 1 84220 0283.

Muntz R, Tudor Edwards R, Tunnage, Prys & Roberts G (2004) Development of a Welsh Language Version of the EQ-5D Health-Related Quality of Life Measure. Stage One: Translation. The Psychologist in Wales 18,

2003
Roberts G (2003) Mentoring in the Bilingual Setting. University of Wales, Bangor.
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/documents/415/mentora.pdf

Roberts G, Kent B, Prys D & Lewis R (2003) Describing chronic pain: towards
bilingual practice. International Journal of Nursing Studies 40, 889-902.

Roberts G & Williams C ( 2003) Words of Comfort: Promoting Language Appropriate Practice. University of Wales Bangor.
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/documents/415/Gair-o-Gysur-pdf.pdf
Spencer, L. H., and Hanley, J. R. (2003). The Effects of Orthographic Consistency on Reading Development and Phonological Awareness; Evidence from Children Learning to Read in Wales. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 1-28.

2000
Roberts G & Paden L (2000) Identifying the factors influencing minority language
use in healthcare education: a European perspective. Journal of Advanced Nursing 32,
1, 75-83.

1997
Roberts G & Prys D (1997) Termau Nyrsio a Bydwreigiaeth / An English-Welsh
Dictionary of Nursing and Midwifery Terms. University of Wales Bangor.