Working with interpreters in the family violence sector in Australia: “It's very hard to be in between”

Abstract

This study explores the role of interpreters and experiences of interpreting within family violence service provision in Australia. Data were drawn from the ASPIRE Project, a community-based participatory research project involving in-depth interviews with service providers (n = 57) and refugee and migrant women who had experienced family violence (n = 46), and a focus group discussion with interpreters (n = 4). The findings show that interpreting services are often inadequate and can create additional safety risks through breaches of confidentiality and other practices that undermine women experiencing family violence. Interpreters themselves are insufficiently supported to undertake the complex and sometimes traumatising task of working in family violence service provision. Cultural conceptions around gender that arise in family violence situations can complicate interpreted interactions, with each party to the triad bringing their own intersectional experiences. Expectations of the role of the interpreter in this context are at times expanded to the role of cultural and institutional broker by service providers. In contrast, migrant and refugee women interviewed prioritised a model based on directly interpreted interactions embedded in the norm of impartiality to promote trust in this high-risk practice area.