Spanish Speakers Research Articles

(281) Linguistic and Cultural Validation of the Satisfaction Survey for Inflatable Penile Implant (SSIPI) for Brazilian Portuguese and Tri-Continental Spanish Speakers

Abstract Introduction The Satisfaction Survey for Inflatable Penile Implants (SSIPI) has been validated in English. No validated Portuguese and Spanish versions currently exist. Objective We aimed to linguistically validate SSIPI in Portuguese and Spanish to evaluate satisfaction outcomes with a validated instrument. Methods Our methodology adhered to best practices established by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) and involved: forward translation of the 16-item SSIPI into Portuguese and Spanish by 2 independent IPP surgeons, reconciliation, back translation into English by 2 different independent bilingual IPP surgeons, and comparison to the original SSIPI for conceptual equivalence. The translated SSIPI versions underwent in-parallel cognitive debriefing (CD) at the US, Colombia, Spain, and Brazil centers. All interviews were recorded in person or via secure video conference to determine if misunderstandings or modifications were needed. Results 12 and 17 native Portuguese and Spanish speakers, respectively, with IPPs, participated in the CD process for their native language SSIPI. Interviews lasted approximately 1 hour each. The Portuguese SSIPI validation was conducted at 2 different centers in Brazil, resulting in 83% of the patients reporting that the survey was easy to answer. Of 16 questions, only 3 (Q7, Q11, and Q16) raised concerns for 6 patients. 5 patients had issues with the concept of the word “naturalness” and “spontaneity” from Q7 and Q16. One patient struggled with interpreting the word “conceal” in Q11. Regarding the duration taken to answer, 10/12 patients said it was acceptable. The Spanish SSIPI was tested at 4 US, Colombia, and Spain academic centers. 63% indicated the survey was easy to answer. In most cases, replacing a single word in the item with another was proposed. 53% had difficulties comprehending the answer choice options with Q3; however, all participants perceived the time required to complete the SSIPI as reasonable. Conclusions While the Portuguese SSIPI has been demonstrated to be easier to read and interpret than the Spanish SSIPI, with minor changes to wording/phrasing, both versions have the potential to improve IPP outcomes literature globally. Concerning questions will be modified before conducting the final validation steps. Disclosure Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Roman.

Exploring women’s chronic disease experiences: A mixed-methods analysis of endometriosis narratives

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological illness faced by an estimated one-tenth of women worldwide. Despite being a common condition, studies of the disease in Latin American settings are still scarce. This paper presents a study of 30 autobiographical interviews with Chilean patients who are L1 Spanish speakers. Our study aims to fill the gap in understanding the endometriosis experience of Latin American women, unveiling how to assist the patients better and improve their quality of life. It is one of the first studies to describe the experience of Chilean women in navigating the disease and the impacts on their routines. We used a mixed-methods approach to achieve our goal, employing a combination of NLP and content analysis. First, we generated word embeddings for three main keywords, "pain," "endometriosis," and "menstruation." Furthermore, we processed the data to locate occurrences of "pain" in the corpus. We coded the occurrences into nine semantic domains of the endometriosis pain experience: intensity, normalization, treatment, frequency, menstruation, feeling, pain location, symptom, and impact. Our results shed light on the details of the journey with endometriosis and may lead to improvements in patient-doctor communication and policymaking to benefit patients.

Domain‐general and reading‐specific cognitive flexibility and its relation with other executive functions: Contributions to science text reading comprehension

BackgroundCognitive and linguistic factors have been incorporated into models to explain reading comprehension beyond classical models of reading. This study explores the contribution of executive functions, mainly domain‐general and reading‐specific cognitive flexibility, in reading comprehension of science texts in monolingual Spanish speaking upper elementary students.MethodsA total of 275 Chilean students from fourth to sixth grade participated in this study. They were evaluated in working memory, inhibition, reading fluency, domain‐general and reading‐specific cognitive flexibility, academic vocabulary and science reading comprehension.ResultsThe results show that cognitive flexibility is a variable that explains performance in science reading comprehension across elementary grades. Furthermore, reading domain‐specific cognitive flexibility was found to be the variable that explains additional performance in science reading comprehension above inhibition, reading fluency, academic vocabulary and domain‐general cognitive flexibility in Grade 4 and Grade 5, but not in Grade 6.ConclusionsThese results suggest the contribution of cognitive variables such as cognitive flexibility in explaining performance in reading comprehension of science texts. The need to develop cognitive tests specific to reading domain is also discussed.

Availability of substance use disorder treatment in Spanish: Associations with state-level proportions of Spanish speakers and treatment facility characteristics in the United States.

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States. Not all substance use disorder (SUD) treatment facilities provide treatment in Spanish. This study examined factors associated with SUD treatment facilities having counselors that provide treatment in Spanish. State-level estimates of Spanish-speaking individuals were derived from the American Community Survey 2019. SUD treatment facility characteristics were captured from the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services 2020. We examined a sample of 15,246 facilities which included 12,798 outpatient, 3554 nonhospital residential, and 1106 with both outpatient and residential programs. Binary logistic regression models were used to observe state-level proportions of Spanish speakers and facility-level characteristics as factors associated with a facility having counselors that provide treatment in Spanish. Approximately 23.3% of facilities had counselors able to provide treatment in Spanish. Among outpatient or nonhospital residential SUD facilities, those in a state with a larger proportion of Spanish-speaking individuals, facilities with pay assistance, facilities that accept Medicaid, and facilities that engage in community outreach had higher odds of having counselors that provide treatment in Spanish. Considering that less than a quarter of facilities provide treatment in Spanish, increasing the availability of linguistically appropriate and culturally responsive services for SUD is imperative. This national study is the first of its kind to examine associations between estimates of Spanish speakers and treatment facility characteristics associated with counselors that provide treatment in Spanish in outpatient and nonhospital residential SUD treatment.

Sequence organization in L2 interactions

Abstract Employing conversation analysis (CA) to analyze a first encounter between a second language (L2) learner and a native speaker (NS) of Spanish, this study demonstrates how interactants’ differences in deploying sequence expansion and recipient uptake impact the interaction. Focusing on sequence organization during storytelling episodes, I argue that both interactants, teller and recipient, act as co-authors of the telling episode by conveying stancetaking differently, to display (mis)alignment and/or (dis)affiliation with the telling. The focal data are derived from one videotaped, semi-structured conversation of an L2-NS dyad. I identify ten focal episodes of sequences representing some form of post-expansions, recipient uptake, and stancetaking. The study reveals that these two speakers used post-expansions differently: the Spanish NS used them to accept a second-pair part; the Spanish learner employed them to close a second-pair part and transition toward a new topic, such as when encountering less-preferred recipient uptake. Gestures and gaze (e.g., looking away from the interlocutor) accentuated closing a dispreferred second-pair part. Given the importance of recipient uptake in talk-in-interaction, the article offers implications for research and pedagogy regarding training L2 learners to produce appropriate sequences beyond minimal post-expansions in talk.

Bibliotequitas para Tualatin

The City of Tualatin is home to around 5,000 individuals who identify as Hispanic or Latino (US Census Bureau, 2020). Uniquely, many of the Spanish speakers who immigrated to Tualatin are from Guerrero. Guerrero is located in the southwest region of the Mexican west coast, sandwiched between the Mexican states of Jalisco and Oaxaca. Although many Mexican immigrants in Tualatin are from this particular region, we have a growing community from all over Central America and South America. This shift in immigration shows us the increasing need to provide relevant Spanish-language programs and materials for our community. Tualatin Public Library decided to address this need by creating Little Free Libraries or "bibliotequitas" for underserved, Spanish-speaking communities in the area.

Barriers to Healthcare for Latinx Autistic Children and Adolescents.

To understand the ways in which autistic Latinx children experience disparities in diagnosis, healthcare, and receipt of specialty services. 417 individuals who identified as Latinx caregivers of autistic children who were members of the same integrated healthcare system in Northern California were surveyed. Responses were analyzed using the child's insurance coverage (Government or Commercial) and caregiver's primary language (Spanish or English). Compared to the commercially-insured, government-insured participants accessed several services at a higher rate and were less likely to cite the high cost of co-pays as a barrier. There were no significant differences in service access by language status, but Spanish speakers were more likely to cite health literacy as a barrier to receiving care.

Unequal loss: Disparities in relational closeness to a COVID-19 death among U.S. older adults.

COVID-19 mortality occurred unevenly across U.S. demographic subgroups, leaving some communities harder hit than others. Black and Hispanic/Latino older adults are among those disproportionately affected by COVID-19 mortality, and in turn, COVID-19 bereavement. Because disparities in COVID-19 mortality may extend to COVID-19 bereavement, it is important to understand the incidence of COVID-19 bereavement among older adults at various degrees of relational closeness (e.g., spouse vs. household member vs. friend). We used the National Social Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) COVID Study to evaluate disparities in loss of a social network member to COVID-19 among U.S. older adults by race/ethnicity, language, and relational closeness. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate the likelihood of experiencing a COVID-19 death in one's social network. None of the English-speaking, non-Hispanic White respondents reported the loss of a household member or spouse to COVID-19. English-speaking, non-Hispanic Black and English-speaking, Hispanic older adults were overrepresented in reporting a death at every degree of relational closeness. However, close COVID-19 bereavement was most prevalent among Spanish-speaking older adults of any race. Although Spanish speakers comprised only 4.8% of the sample, half of the respondents who lost a spouse to COVID-19 were Spanish speakers. Language and ethnoracial group disparities persisted after controlling for age, sex, marital status, and education. Known ethnoracial disparities in COVID-19 mortality extend to COVID-19 bereavement among older adults. Because bereavement impacts health, Black, Latino, and Spanish-speaking communities need greater protection and investment to prevent disparities in bereavement from exacerbating disparities in later-life mental and physical health.

On the Acquisition of Differential Object Marking in Child Heritage Spanish: Bilingual Education, Exposure, and Age Effects (In Memory of Phoebe Search)

Studies on school-aged children have been infrequent in research on Spanish as a heritage language. The present study explored how dual-language immersion education, patterns of heritage language use, proficiency, and age shape child Spanish heritage speakers’ production and selection of differential object marking (DOM). A total of 57 English–Spanish bilingual children and 18 Spanish-dominant adults completed sentence completion and morphology selection tasks. Results revealed that the group of heritage speaker children that produced and selected the differential object marker most frequently was the seventh and eighth grade children (ages 12–14, the oldest in the study) who had completed a dual-language immersion program. Different factors accounted for variability in each task: bilingual education and proficiency affected the production of DOM, while age affected selection. Heritage speakers selected DOM more frequently than they produced this structure. These findings have implications for theories of heritage language acquisition that emphasizes that language experience and exposure account for differences between heritage speakers and argue for the dissociation of production from underlying syntactic knowledge. The data also argue that heritage speakers may possess a bilingual alignment for DOM, whereby underlying receptive knowledge is modulated by cumulative exposure, while production depends more on bilingual education and proficiency in Spanish.

Methodological Challenges in Conducting Cross-Cultural/Language Research with Spanish Speakers: The Role of the Researcher/Translator

With the increase in global research, it is common for researchers to investigate topics in intercultural settings, both in their own home countries and abroad. Although findings from this research are prolific, rarely are detailed examples given or practical suggestions offered, particularly in relation to the role of the translator/researcher. The significant and often undervalued role of the translator/researcher in cross cultural/language qualitative research warrants methodological considerations at the onset and throughout the research. Nonetheless, few qualitative studies transparently report the process of how the translation findings were developed. This paper addresses this gap by examining a Latinx postgraduate student’s role in the qualitative research on teacher induction in Chile. I used reflexivity to assess my positionality of insiderness and outsiderness and its influence in the process of recruitment, conducting interviews, transcription, and translation. Interviews were conducted, transcribed and analysed in Spanish. Examples of data translation that can help to identify the main issues associated with reporting the findings in English are provided. These applied examples are used to illustrate the gaps and misinterpretations possible in intercultural research. The importance of researcher’s culture competence, contextual skills and knowledge of the field of the study are highlighted.

Navigating language maintenance challenges with health professionals: Reflections from Spanish speaking families in Australia

ABSTRACT Parents often worry children will lose their heritage language when their spoken language develops and they transition to majority language environments. With a growing population of Spanish speakers in Australia, increased attendance at childcare and earlier and more frequent exposure to English, there is a need to understand what advice health professionals are imparting to support language maintenance amongst the Spanish speaking community. In this study, I interviewed 13 Chilean and Colombian mothers about the language maintenance challenges they encountered when their children transitioned to majority language environments. I also investigated if they had sought advice from health professionals, what advice they had been provided, and what impact that had on their family language policy. This study showed that parents often adopted different family language policies in spite of, rather than because of, advice from health professionals. The need for more nuanced and informed advice to support language maintenance in the early years warrants further research into professional development and training in multilingual development.

Vowel articulation and intelligibility of speech in Spanish speakers with Parkinson's disease treated with deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus

Parkinson's disease (PD) can affect the intelligibility of speech. Although studies of vowel production are useful for measuring this impairment, they do not exist in Spanish speakers with the disease who have been treated with subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS). STN-DBS is an effective treatment for the classic signs of PD, but with varied effects on speech. Data from two individuals with PD treated with STN-DBS were studied: one (P1) had impairment and the other (P2) had stable speech intelligibility after STN-DBS implantation. The triangular vowel space area (tVSA) and the vowel articulation index (VAI) were measured and compared before the implantation surgery, and at three, six and nine months after surgery. These measurements were compared with measurements of speech intelligibility (percentage of words correctly identified and degree of intelligibility). Both participants presented variations in measurements of vowel articulation after surgery. In P1, the reduction in the tVSA, but not the post-surgical change in the VAI, was consistent with reduced speech intelligibility. However, in P2, both measurements (tVSA and VAI) reflected stable speech intelligibility after surgery. Reduced speech intelligibility in Spanish speakers with PD after STN-DBS implantation may be reflected in a reduced tVSA.

Hypocorisms Meet Sound Symbolism: A Socio-Onomastic Study of Spanish Hypocoristic Forms of Personal Names in -i

The suffix -i has been regarded as a gender-neutral morpheme that communicates affection in Spanish. Previous studies have shown this diminutive morpheme to be more productive in relation to female hypocorisms. There are, however, many Spanish proper names for which there exist pairs of alternative hypocorisms (e.g. Antonia > Toña/Toñi; Antonio > Toño/Toni). This paper compares the potentiality of the suffix -i to build hypocorisms for both genders with its actual use by Spanish speakers over a four-generation time spam from Baby Boomers to Generation Z. It explores the connections between its sound symbolism and its pragmatics in order to assess its alleged gender neutrality over time. The paper is organized as follows. First, the author considers previous literature on sound symbolism and gender, together with a description of the theoretical tools used in the present investigation. Second, the paper describes the methodological decisions adopted for the present research, which include the design of a survey to assess the gender neutrality of the actual use of the hypocorisms by Spanish speakers. The cohort of informants includes 30 men and 30 women from different generations (50% Baby Boomers / Generation X and 50% Millennials / Generation Z). Finally, the author reports and discusses the results of the survey. These point to a preference for hypocorisms in -i for female names. Differences also arise in the use of hypocorisms in -i in relation to the gender and age of the speakers, signalling an incipient diversion from the traditional use of hypocorisms in -i for female names in previous generations.

A virtual recruitment protocol promotes enrollment of underrepresented groups in a diabetes prevention trial.

Strategies are needed to ensure greater participation of underrepresented groups in diabetes research. We examined the impact of a remote study protocol on enrollment in diabetes research, specifically the Pre-NDPP clinical trial. Recruitment was conducted among 2807 diverse patients in a safety-net healthcare system. Results indicated three-fold greater odds of enrolling in remote versus in-person protocols (AOR 2.90; P < 0.001 [95% CI 2.29-3.67]). Priority populations with significantly higher enrollment included Latinx and Black individuals, Spanish speakers, and individuals who had Medicaid or were uninsured. A remote study design may promote overall recruitment into clinical trials, while effectively supporting enrollment of underrepresented groups.

Clinical experience with the Nurotron™ cochlear implant in a Spanish-speaking postlingual population: Clinical safety and audiological results

Objectiveto assess clinical safety and postoperative audiological outcomes in postlingual deafness Spanish speaking patients, who underwent surgery with Nurotron™ cochlear implant. Material and methodsRetrospective descriptive case series study. We performed follow-up of complications and audiological measurements before and after cochlear implantation. Patients with bilateral severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss or patients with unilateral deafness with/without tinnitus were included. Repeated-measures within-subjects for assess pure tone thresholds and speech performance (bilingual test) with a detailed monitoring to establish security or adverse effects were performed. Analysis of variance tests, repetitive measures, were used for statistical analysis. Results31 patients were included, 17 (54.8%) men and 14 (45.2%) women. Mean age at the time of surgery was 49.82 ± 18.8 years. The mean follow-up of the group was 31.56 ± 9.57 months (minimum = 19.6 months and maximum = 52.50 months). As major complication one patient (3.23%) had a hard failure that required removal and re-implantation. 25.8% of the patients presented minor complications, the most frequent being vertigo/unsteadiness in 22.6%.The mean of language discrimination (free field at 65 dB SPL) was 62.19% ± 16.66; being 69.82% ± 7.35 in the group of severe to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. A statistically significant reduction was observed in patients with tinnitus, assessed using the visual analogue scale, preoperative = 7.2 ± 1,6 vs postoperative (18months postoperative) = 1.7 ± 1.3 (p < .001). ConclusionsThe Nurotron™ cochlear implant shows satisfactory audiological results, in accordance with what has been reported in the literature. Minor complications were similar to previous studies, but the percentage of hard failure should continue to be observed, which was higher than other reports with comparable follow-up.

Returning individual research results to participants: Values, preferences, and expectations.

Disclosing individual research results to participants is not standard practice. The return of individual research results to participants may increase recruitment, retention, and engagement in research. This study's objective was to explore the preferences, expectations, and experiences of research participants receiving individual research results. A mixed-methods approach, consisting of semi-structured interviews and a health literacy assessment, was used with participants enrolled in a cohort study. The interviews were analyzed to produce an understanding of current experiences. Using descriptive analyses, responses were compared to identify alignments and divergences among participants. Forty-three English-speaking and 16 Spanish-speaking participants enrolled. Ninety-eight percent of participants wanted to receive their individual research results. Seventy-five percent of participants reported they shared results with their healthcare providers. More participants aged 18-65 reported the need to follow up with their provider (70%) as compared to participants > 65 (20%). Two-thirds of participants reported a positive experience receiving their research results; however, 22% reported anxiety and worry. Most participants (69%) described the electronic medical record (EMR) as their preferred method for receiving their results. Yet only 50% of Spanish speakers preferred receiving research results through the EMR compared to 77% of English speakers. Participants with low health literacy preferred receiving study results in person or by phone. Research participants value receiving their individual research results, and this may increase recruitment and retention within the research enterprise. While more research is needed, the lessons learned from this study lay the groundwork for developing best practices and policies around the return of individual research results.

ПРАГМАТИЧНА СКЛАДОВА ІСПАНСЬКОГО НЕОЗНАЧЕНОГО АРТИКЛЮ В КОНТЕКСТІ МОВНОЇ ПІДГОТОВКИ МАЙБУТНІХ ПЕРЕКЛАДАЧІВ

Вackground. The article examines the pragmatic functions of the indefinite article in Spanish with a view to its teaching to students of translation studies at higher educational institutions. The study focuses on the fact that the Spanish article is capable not only of indicating the uncertainty of the subject, but also of conveying various pragmatic information or even acquiring metaphorical meanings depending on the existing communicative situation. The didactic goal of the study is to develop students' ability to perceive the grammatical category of the article from the point of view of a native Spanish speaker, which will improve its understanding for use and further reproduction in Ukrainian translation. Methods. A number of methods have been used to highlight the problem, namely descriptive method, contrastive or comparative method, the methods of linguistic and contextual interpretive analysis, as well as the method of generalization of the data. The article is of a review nature with the aim of generalising the issue. Results. The main cases of the use of the indefinite article in Spanish are analyzed for the presence of pragmatic functions, in particular, its use to indicate uncertainty or quantity of a noun, to introduce new information, to indicate belonging to a certain group, to add characteristics to an object or phenomenon, as well as for emphasis. The article reveals the pragmatic potential of the article in the original, which is important and sometimes necessary to preserve in the target text during translation. It is established that the translation transformation of deleting the article without adding lexical means in the target text due to the absence of this category in Ukrainian grammar is an ambiguous decision, which leads to the loss of the pragmatic component in the Ukrainian translation or even to a change in the content of the Spanish message. Possible ways to solve the problem of reproducing different meanings of the indefinite article are proposed, including the addition of appropriate lexical and lexico-grammatical means, changing the order of words in a sentence, transposition or explication. Conclusions. The grammatical category of the article in Spanish has a wide potential for expressing additional pragmatic meanings that have semantic, stylistic, emphatic, expressive, evaluative or metaphorical load. In Ukrainian translation, the reproduction of additional pragmatic meanings of the article is difficult, which leads to certain losses in the target text. To ensure an adequate reproduction of the Spanish message, the translator must acquire sufficient linguistic competence to understand the nature of the Spanish indefinite article and see it from the point of view of a native Spanish speaker. This will allow them to identify pragmatic meanings in the text and reproduce them in Ukrainian.

Second language processing of English definite noun phrases by Spanish speakers and Japanese speakers

Abstract The present study examines the acquisition of definite noun phrases (NPs) in L2 English. Both English and Spanish have a definite article, but Japanese lacks articles, though definite anaphoric and definite non-anaphoric are present to some degree through the optional use of sono (the/that). A self-paced reading task was administered to assess real-time processing in the comprehension of different types of definite NPs by L2-English learners. The self-paced reading results show processing of definite NPs is influenced by proficiency level rather than L1 transfer effects. We discuss our findings in reference to the Morphological Congruency Hypothesis and the Lexical Learning/Lexical Transfer model and suggest that our data support the latter but not the former.

Dialect-specificity and learners’ L2 perceptual resilience after study abroad

Abstract The present study examined the perception of two regional variants of Spanish (theta /Ɵ/ and zheísmo/sheísmo [ʒ, ʃ]) by nonnative speakers of Spanish with and without study abroad experience. The study’s goals were to determine whether learners who study abroad accept regional variants more frequently than at-home learners, and whether this effect is limited to cues participants are exposed to while abroad. Participants were L1 English speakers asked to determine whether they considered real and nonce word pairs with matching and mismatching regional variants to be instances of the same word. The findings reveal higher acceptance rates of mismatching variants by L2 learners who had studied abroad than of classroom learners but results for specific location of study abroad that suggest learners likely build perceptual resilience while abroad that goes beyond the specific cues they are exposed to.

When spatial agency bias and the advantage of the first mention are in contradiction: Evidence from Czech, German, and Spanish

Evidence from Art (History), perceptual psychology, and (psycho-)linguistics support the claim that in Western culture (or rather within left-to-right writing languages), people depict or visualize more important or salient figures to the left. However, linguistics studies investigating this topic almost exclusively use active sentences with standard Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) syntax as stimuli, where the subject takes the role of an agent. However natural language exhibits much more syntactical variation. To determine if this pattern is also present when the less common syntax is used, we asked native German, Spanish, and Czech speakers (N=300) to draw situations representing ten sentences varying in syntactic structure. These drawings, simplified versions of the mental representation of the situation, provide a glimpse into the conceptualization of the scenes. The spatial placement of the agent figures in the sentences was coded. Results show that although the asymmetrical effect is strong in prototypical SVO sentences, where the subject has the function of an agent and the object a function of a patient, the effect is weaker or disappears in passive sentences, where the subject at the first position is a patient and object on the second position is an agent, as well as in topicalized (OVS) sentences. Furthermore, we found cross-linguistic differences, which suggests that the character of the bias is language-specific. We postulate that placing the agent to the left is only one of the factors influencing spatial placement. The other factor playing an important role is the naming order.