The Health Care Access for Linguistic Minorities Network

The HCALM-NETWORK

The Health Care Access for Linguistic Minorities Network (HCALM-Network) is an interdisciplinary, interinstitutional community of researchers that is part of a growing movement worldwide to understand patient-practitioner communication and its impact on the delivery of health care and social services.

In particular, the network investigates communication between patients and health professionals, where the health professional has to use a second language and where this poses a potential language barrier that may compromise equitable access to health care.

HCALM-Network is administered by Dialogue McGill whose objective is to render health and social services more accessible to English-speaking Quebecers for whom potential language barriers exist.

The objectives of the HCALM-Network are to:

1. Understand the ways in which access to health care or social services by linguistic minorities may be limited by linguistic and cultural barriers.
2. Identify and develop strategies through which identified barriers may be overcome or reduced.
3. Increase dissemination and adoption of knowledge, strategies or best practices which can address the health concerns of minority language communities. 
4. Expand this emerging field of study.​

Working Papers

In Health Care Access for Linguistic Minorities, Issue 1

The Working Papers (WP) reflect ongoing work carried out by a community of researchers known as the HCALM-Network (Health Care Access for Linguistic Minorities Network). The goal of the WP is to focus on making available pre-publication versions of articles, syntheses of the literature, re-publication of existing articles to increase accessibility, and the like. HCALM-Network’s research is part of a growing movement worldwide to understand patient-practitioner communication and its impact on the delivery of health care and social services. In particular, the network investigates communication between patients and health professionals, where the health professional has to use a second language and where this poses a potential language barrier that may compromise equitable access to health care. Read more