Switching to remote public service interpreting with the help of training during the pandemic: Presenter(s): Suzanne Gagnon, Université Laval, Canada

BACKGROUND: With the emergency health measures implemented to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, remote public service interpretation (PSI-D) has become an essential practice for maintaining services to migrants and refugees, a particularly vulnerable population. Increasing the availability of interpreters and ensuring a diversity of languages interpreted are incentives for PSI-D. Preventing the spread of COVID-19 and intervening with a particularly at-risk population are other incentives that add to this list, as communication barriers have a demonstrable effect on the effectiveness of health promotion messages. PSI-D refers not only to the use of telecommunication technologies (e.g., videoconferencing) that allow an interpreter to provide services remotely, but also to a series of communication strategies aimed at, among other things, framing their use in specific practice settings and minimizing the consequences of the virtual presence. METHOD: This communication will present the results of a project with a twofold objective: (1) to develop an online synchronous training for practitioners, entitled Working With Remote Interpreters: Good Practices and (2) to measure its impact on knowledge and sense of self-efficacy of participants. The project follows a pre-post design. Questionnaires were sent to participants on three occasions (T0: before the training, T1: at the end of the training, T2: three months after the training). T-test analyses have been performed to capture possible changes in knowledge and sense of self-efficacy at the different measurement times FINDINGS: 79, 42 and 37 participants (85% of women) completed the questionnaire at T0, T1 and T2 respectively. Results: are significant. Knowledge as well as sense of self-efficacy increase after the training and stay stable after three months. The effect is significant whatever participant profession, language mastering, experience of working with interpreters or gender. DISCUSSION: While such training has an impact, organizational measures are needed in order to maintain such newly acquired competences.