INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION OF OVERSEAS CLIENTS IN HEALTHCARE SERVICE IN CHIANG MAI

Abstract

The aims of the study were to investigate the major factors of healthcare overseas clients encountering in healthcare service in term of intercultural communication and what intercultural communication skills of health care service providers should be improved in order to assist the communication between both clients and medical staff to be able to communicate effectively. The sample sampling participants were 200 health care overseas clients who have been experiencing the health care service in Chiang Mai. The research instruments were questionnaires including an interview. It was found that English proficiency development of medical staff was needed particularly English for specific careers. The most obstacle skill while communicating was listening. The staff could not understand when the clients tried to explain their symptoms. The difficulty of intercultural communication found was the request for information about the clients’ illness and the service procedures that might be too complicated. Those may lead to ineffective communication.