This thesis focuses on the use of interpreters in Swedish healthcare. The overall aim was to explore how individuals, healthcare professionals and family members experience and perceive the use of interpreters in healthcare. The study design was explorative and descriptive. The thesis included Serbo-Croatian(Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian)speaking individuals(n=17), healthcare professionals(n=24), official documents(n=60)and family members(n=10)of individuals using interpreters in healthcare. Individual interviews, written descriptions, review of official documents in the form of incident reports from a single case study and focus group interviews were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using phenomenography, qualitative content analysis and qualitative data analysis of focus group interviews. The overall finding from all perspectives was the wish to have a qualified interpreter whose role was as a communication aid but also as a practical and informative guide in healthcare. The perception of a qualified interpreter was someone highly skilled in medical terminology, Swedish and individuals’ native language with ability to adapt to different dialects, wearing non-provocative and neutral clothes, of the same gender, with a professional attitude and preferably in personal contact through face-to-face interaction. Besides being a communication aid, the interpreter was perceived as having an important role in helping individuals to find the right way to and within the healthcare system because foreign-born individuals were unable to understand information in healthcare. Another aspect was to have a well-developed organization with good cooperation between the parties involved in the interpretation situation, such as patients, interpreter, interpreter agency, family members and healthcare professionals to offer a good interpretation situation. In conclusion, the use of an interpreter was determined by individual and healthcare situational factors. Individualized holistic healthcare can be achieved by offering and using high-quality interpreters and cooperation within a well-developed interpreter organization.   Keywords: communication, healthcare service, patient-safe quality care, qualitative data collection, qualitative data analysis, users’ perceptions/experiences, utilization of interpreters.

Background: The elderly Chinese group is growing in Sweden but no studies about their experiences of being cared for were found. In order to meet the elderly Chinese need for care, it is necessary to understand their perspectives of being cared for. Aim: To describe the meaning of the experiences of being cared for by elderly Chinese immigrants in a Swedish context. Method: For this phenomenological study, open-end interviews were carried out with 7 informants originally from Mainland China and Hong Kong. Result and Conclusion: For the elderly Chinese in Sweden, ‘being cared for’ means being involved in a caring community, to have a mutual relationship with someone who can see and understand their needs. In such a relationship, they felt that they were included and respected. They were being treated as valuable with a genuine manner. They had a feeling of satisfaction, happiness, peacefulness, closeness, togetherness, and wholeness when ‘being cared for’. For these elderly Chinese immigrants, informal care was indispensable even when they were receiving formal care. They wished that their family could show concern and formal caregivers could understand and give space to the informal caregivers on caregiving.