The Department of Spanish and Portuguese would like to congratulate SPPO graduate student Palo Pinillos Chávez on winning second place in the Humanities section at the 35^th Annual Hayes Research Forum that was held on Friday, April 9, 2021. Palo received the award for her project, The Impact of English Accented-Spanish on the Relationship between Latino Patients and Healthcare Professionals.

The project focuses on a minority and underrepresented group: Spanish speaking Latinos in the United States. As a linguistic minority, this community constantly faces language barriers in the US healthcare system without enough trained Spanish-English bilingual healthcare professionals. This sociolinguistic reality has motivated health professionals in the U.S. to learn and communicate in Spanish as a way to improve the outcomes of the healthcare they provide. In her project, Palo focuses on this particular linguistic situation, health professionals who have learned Spanish as a second language and examines the relationship between Spanish-speaking patients and these new bilingual health professionals. Specifically, Palo’s project explores the effect of second language proficiency and pronunciation on Latino patients’ perception of their healthcare providers’ communication and how that perception influences the trust and reliability that patients place on the providers. 

When asked about her experience at the Hayes Research Forum, Palo said, “The Hayes Research Forum was a great experience for me. It was a perfect opportunity to connect and share work that I am passionate about. It allowed me to talk about my research with a broader audience of scholars and receive valuable feedback from other disciplines. Hearing about the projects of other colleagues from Humanities and Social Sciences also allowed me to feel part of a community of people who are doing significant work toward social justice and activism by representing minorities and marginalized communities.”

Congratulations on this wonderful recognition, Palo!

The view the complete list of awards, as well as the recordings of the oral presentations from the forum, please visit the OSU Council of Graduate Students website.