Fostering Health Communication with Sinophone Patients in Italy: Towards an Ethical and Culture-centered Framework for Language and Cultural Mediation Training

Abstract

In recent years, growing attention to intercultural communication in healthcare has highlighted the crucial role of linguistic and cultural mediation (LCM) in facilitating interaction between medical professionals and Chinese-speaking patients. Yet, the linguistic complexity of medical Chinese – shaped by culturally embedded terminology, historical stratification, and epistemological differences – poses significant challenges for both written and oral mediation practices. Beyond linguistic competence, mediators are required to navigate culturally rooted conceptual systems and uphold key ethical principles such as confidentiality, impartiality, informed consent, and cultural sensitivity. Despite its essential contribution to healthcare communication, LCM in Italy still lacks formal recognition and standardized professional frameworks. Ethical and methodological dimensions of LCM training and practice therefore remain largely underexplored and insufficiently systematized. This article addresses this gap by offering a critical examination of current approaches to mediation in medical contexts involving Chinese-speaking patients. Drawing on a critical literature review, it proposes a theoretical and conceptually integrated framework developed through a top-down, culture-centred, and interdisciplinary lens. The framework aims to clarify the ethical underpinnings and methodological challenges of mediation practice, serving as a basis for future validation and further theoretical and empirical research within the field of intercultural communication.