Linguistic Challenges Experienced in the Healthcare Communication Process by Healthcare Providers and Patients in Multilingual Windhoek, Namibia

The study investigated the communicative experiences and cultural/linguistic challenges experienced in the Namibian healthcare context. The main objective of this study was to examine the linguistic challenges experienced in the healthcare communication process by healthcare providers and patients in multilingual Windhoek, Namibia. This qualitative study employed an exploratory and descriptive study design to generate qualitative data. Data were collected through open-ended questionnaires and follow-up interviews. Data were analysed through thematic content analysis. The purposefully selected sample of 30 healthcare providers working in private and public hospitals and healthcare facilities around Windhoek was identified. Thirty-five (35) patients participated in the study through voluntary self-selection sampling. The Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) was employed since, when applied to healthcare communication, it allows the prediction and explanation of non-verbal and verbal behavioural modifications healthcare providers and patients make to their behaviour to create, maintain, or decrease the social distance in interaction. This is relevant since the study’s main aim was to investigate the communication experiences of healthcare providers and patients. Verbal and non-verbal communication behaviours can dictate how effective healthcare communication is modified during healthcare consultations, deliberations, and administration. Therefore, CAT was useful in clarifying issues such as the causes of communication breakdown as well as those that enable positive communication experiences and outcomes. The study identifies that beyond linguistic discordance in healthcare communication, additional barriers arise from divergent cultural backgrounds, religious values, disparities in cross-cultural exposure, and variations in lived experiences. Ultimately, the findings demonstrate that effective healthcare communication is compromised not merely by linguistic misunderstandings between healthcare providers and patients but equally by insufficient intercultural competence, entrenched belief systems, and subtle sociocultural dynamics that transcend purely linguistic differences. These findings underscore the multidimensional nature of healthcare communication barriers, which stem from both explicit cultural contrasts and nuanced elements of identity formation among diverse populations such as Windhoek Namibia.