The Working Alliance and the Use of Interpreters

Abstract

This dissertation compared working alliance with and without interpreters and examined factors that may impact the development of the working alliance when an interpreter is used. The setting was a Midwestern public school district where social workers complete a social developmental history with a parent as part of the evaluation of children for special education. The Working Alliance Inventory was used to measure the dependent variable, from the parent, social worker, and interpreter perspectives. The DIALANG was explored as a measure of language proficiency in both English and Spanish, but ultimately rejected. Quantitative data was collected over a three year period. Focus groups were then conducted with school social workers. The dependent variables were highly skewed with parents, social workers, and interpreters indicating a strong working alliance in almost every case. Multiple issues within the research were discussed with implications for future research.