ABSTRACT
The rapid spread of the coronavirus has left national economies, educational systems, medical sectors, and social spheres struggling with a new reality. This reality has led to a crisis in multilingual communication, especially in the public health sector. This study describes the communication approaches that took place among a diverse nurse workforce and diverse patient groups during the COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar, which is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. Specifically, through Q-methodology, this study examines the communication strategies employed by nurses to communicate with South and Southeast Asian patients, who are largely blue-collar migrant workers and constitute 63.2% of Qatar’s population. The results indicate that patients were given voices, not through their native languages, but rather through different means that included a form of pidgin Arabic, gestures and visual methods, and repetition, mainly in English.
Acknowledgements
Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.