Experiences of Sign Language Interpreters and Perspectives of Interpreting Administrators During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Description

Abstract

Objective:

Interpreting during the COVID-19 pandemic caused stress and adverse mental health among sign language interpreters. The objective of this study was to summarize the pandemic-related work experiences of sign language interpreters and interpreting administrators upon transitioning from on-site to remote work.

Methods:

From March through August 2021, we conducted focus groups with 22 sign language interpreters in 5 settings, 1 focus group for each setting: staff, educational, community/freelance, video remote interpreting, and video relay services. We also conducted 5 individual interviews with interpreting administrators or individuals in positions of administrative leadership in each represented setting. The 22 interpreters had a mean (SD) age of 43.4 (9.8) years, 18 were female, 17 were White, all identified as hearing, and all worked a mean (SD) of 30.6 (11.6) hours per week in remote interpreting. We asked participants about the positive and negative consequences of transitioning from on-site to remote at-home interpreting. We established a thematic framework by way of qualitative description for data analysis.

Results:

We found considerable overlap across positive and negative consequences identified by interpreters and interpreting administrators. Positive consequences of transitioning from on-site to remote-at-home interpreting were realized across 5 overarching topic areas: organizational support, new opportunities, well-being, connections/relationships, and scheduling. Negative consequences emerged across 4 overarching topic areas: technology, financial aspects, availability of the interpreter workforce, and concerns about the occupational health of interpreters.

Conclusions:

The positive and negative consequences shared by interpreters and interpreting administrators provide foundational knowledge upon which to create recommendations for the anticipated sustainment of some remote interpreting practice in a manner that protects and promotes occupational health.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the provision of sign language interpreting services. Sign language interpreters were essential, working on the frontlines as medical interpreters, disseminating information at emergency press briefings, and interpreting remotely from home.^1-6 This high demand garnered more attention to the known occupational hazards of role strain, burnout, and vicarious trauma among interpreters.^7-9 Interpreting during the pandemic caused interpreters to experience greater-than-normal stress and adverse mental health.^3,10 For educational, health and media, and governmental interpreters, the constant flux of measures to quell the spread of COVID-19, as well as the need to communicate the nature and progression of disease and interpret for local press briefings, contributed to stress. ³ In several studies describing the work of interpreters during the pandemic, among interpreters working remotely from home, 10% to 24% expressed some degree of stress, 17% to 30% had some degree of anxiety, 23% experienced some depression, and 13% reported seeking some form of mental health support because of changing professional demands.^4,10,11 Little qualitative research has investigated how consequences experienced during the pandemic affected the health and well-being of interpreters and their longevity in the field. Data on some factors specific to the extreme conditions of the pandemic and the challenges of interpreting at public briefings during crises were gathered in previous research via interviews with Lithuanian ⁵ and British and Irish ⁶ sign language interpreters. However, much of the evidence on the benefits and challenges of interpreting remotely has been explored via survey.^4,12

Many interpreters were unwilling to go out into the community for fear of exposure and shifted to working remotely from home when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020.^12,13 Some 60% to 64% of interpreters had never worked remotely before the pandemic, and 46% reported not feeling comfortable or prepared for the transition to remote work.^4,12 A scoping review published in 2022 addressed what is known about remote interpreting or what the authors described as “interpreted mediated interactions between people using a signed respective spoken language across distances in real time.” ¹⁴ Most of the studies included in the review described video relay interpreting in call centers (not from home), and all studies were conducted before the pandemic. ¹⁴ In the few studies on video remote interpreting in educational, legal, and medical settings, interpreters characterized the lack of travel time and the possibility of working from home as advantages and technological (access to stable WiFi), linguistic (2- instead of 3-dimensional), environmental (distracting backgrounds), and logistical (getting people’s attention) issues as challenges. ¹⁴

More qualitative work is needed to bolster our understanding of working remotely during the changing work conditions of the pandemic across interpreting settings. Not having to travel, better work environment, and flexibility have been recognized as benefits, while feelings of isolation, technical issues, lack of feedback from consumers and team interpreters, eye strain/computer fatigue, and billing have been identified as challenges.^11,12 Other previous survey work found flexibility, less travel time, improved efficiency, and availability of interpreting services, including new opportunities to team with interpreters in different geographic locations, as benefits. ⁴ Furthermore, remote interpreting has been characterized as making a positive contribution toward work–life balance. The most frequently reported obstacles to remote interpreting were technical glitches, a suitable workplace setup, and children at home or other at-home distractions. ⁴ To our knowledge, no previous work has explored the organizational-level perspectives of interpreting administrators. Capturing data on the pandemic-related work experiences of interpreters and the perspectives of administrators is critical for protecting and promoting occupational health and sustaining the practice of remote interpreting.

In previous research, 41% of the variance in sign language interpreters’ perceptions of the determinants of remote interpreting implementation was explained by organizational-level factors (managerial support and insight, sufficient materials, resources, and training). ¹⁵ Eleven percent of the variance in interpreters’ experiences with the implementation process was explained by individual-level factors (interpreters’ skills and beliefs in their capabilities), and 7% was explained by social-level factors (problem solving with and support received from fellow remote interpreters). ¹⁵ The objective of our study was to summarize qualitatively the individual-level experiences of interpreters and the organizational-level perspectives of administrators upon transitioning from on-site to remote work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

The University of Rochester’s Research Subjects Review Board (RSRB) reviewed this study (STUDY00005893) and deemed it exempt under the US Department of Health and Human Services regulation 45 CFR 46.104; specifically, under exemption category 2 (surveys/interviews/educational tests/observation of public behavior) iii (information obtained is recorded in such a manner that human subjects can be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects, and the RSRB conducts limited institutional review board review).

Participants

From March through August 2021, we used semistructured focus groups to gather data on pandemic-related work experiences from sign language interpreters in 5 settings, 1 focus group for each setting: staff (federal or state government, agency, or medical center employees), educational (kindergarten through university), community/freelance (independent contractors), video remote interpreting (2-way connection between on-site participants and a remote interpreter), and video relay services (3-way telecommunication between deaf and hearing parties and an interpreter, all in separate locations). In addition, we conducted 5 individual interviews with interpreting administrators or individuals in positions of administrative leadership in each represented setting.

Focus groups with interpreters

In previous research, a collective survey was conducted from March through September 2021 to measure interpreters’ physical and mental health, ¹⁰ perceptions of the remote interpreting implementation process, ¹⁵ and experience with the technical aspects and personal impressions of working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational institutions, interpreter referral services, nonprofit associations, and video relay service providers shared recruitment material via email listservs, social media, or websites. Respondents identified their primary interpreting setting (staff, educational, community/freelance, video remote, or video relay) and, at the end of the survey,^10,15 the survey asked if they would consider participation in a focus group. We used purposive maximum variation (demographic and geographic) sampling ¹⁶ to invite survey respondents to participate in focus groups from June through August 2021. We included certified hearing and deaf interpreters from the United States and England, as well as interpreters with various ages, racial and ethnic backgrounds, sex and gender identities, and years of interpreting experience. We scheduled focus groups to meet the needs and availability of the interested interpreters across the 5 settings. Eligible interpreters worked remotely from home in their primary setting at least 10 hours per week. Twenty-two interpreters participated; the mean (SD) age was 43.4 (9.8) years, 18 were female, 17 were White, all identified as hearing, and they worked a mean (SD) of 30.6 (11.6) hours per week in remote interpreting (Table 1). One certified deaf interpreter who identified as hard of hearing was confirmed to join a focus group but was unable to attend at the last minute.

Table 1.

Characteristics of sign language interpreters in focus groups and interpreting administrators in individual interviews conducted to gather data upon transitioning from the delivery of on-site to remote interpreting during the COVID-19 pandemic, United States, March–August 2021

Interpreting setting	Focus groups with sign language interpreters (n = 22), conducted June–August 2021	Interviews with interpreting administrators (n = 5), conducted March–June 2021
Staff	The staff focus group consisted of 4 participants who were federal or state government, agency, or medical center employees in Maryland, New York, North Carolina, and Wisconsin whose interpreting experience ranged from 9 to 40 years.	The staff interpreting administrator worked as a manager of an interpreting services department at an academic medical center.
Educational	The educational focus group consisted of 6 participants, 2 of whom worked as K-12 interpreters and 4 as postsecondary interpreters. One K-12 interpreter worked with students in grades 4-8, and the other worked with a high school student. The postsecondary interpreters worked with community college, college, and university students. The educational interpreters had 4 to more than 20 years of experience and were from Arizona, California, Maryland, Michigan, and New York.	The educational administrator worked as a director of access services at a postsecondary academic institution.
Community/freelance	The community/freelance focus group consisted of 4 participants, all of whom worked the majority of their capacity as independent contractors for various interpreter referral agencies. The community/freelance interpreters had 11-30 years of interpreting experience and were from Arizona, California, England, and Washington.	The community/freelance administrator worked as a director of a community interpreter referral service housed at a nonprofit organization.
Video remote	The video remote (2-way connection between on-site participants and a remote interpreter) 17 focus group consisted of 4 participants from Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee with 10-39 years of interpreting experience.	The video remote administrator worked as a director of video remote interpreting services at a national interpreter referral agency.
Video relay	The 4 participants in the video relay (3-way telecommunication between deaf and hearing parties and an interpreter, all in separate locations) 17 focus group worked for 2 video relay service companies; resided in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas; and had 7-21 years of interpreting experience.	The video relay administrator worked as a manager of an at-home interpreting team for a national video relay service provider.

Abbreviation: K-12, kindergarten through grade 12.

Individual interviews with interpreting administrators

We used the contacts of study team investigators and snowball sampling among previous survey respondents^10,15 to invite the participation of interpreting administrators across the 5 settings. We conducted 5 individual interviews, 1 for each setting, from March through June 2021 (Table 1).

Data Collection

One investigator (G.R.) collected the qualitative data from each focus group and interview, which were performed remotely, lasted 90 minutes, and were recorded by using video conferencing software (Zoom). For this study, we extracted focus group and interview data on transitioning from on-site to remote work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interpreters were asked, “What did you feel were the positive and negative consequences of transitioning from on-site to remote-at-home interpreting?” Administrators were asked, “What did you feel were the positive and negative consequences of providing remote-at-home interpreting services?”

Data Processing and Analysis

One investigator (G.R.) processed the data by manually transcribing information from the focus groups and interviews. A thematic framework was established by way of qualitative description for data analysis^18,19 using MaxQDA software (VERBI GmbH). One investigator (G.R.) initially coded the qualitative data. Thereafter, 2 investigators (G.R. and R.Y.N.) worked separately to identify and then together to triangulate common topic areas, themes, and subthemes relating to the positive and negative consequences identified by the interpreters and administrators. Saturation occurred when no new topic areas, themes, or subthemes emerged. Qualitative descriptive approaches provided straightforward description of the phenomena ²⁰ ; thus, we deemed member checking unnecessary.

Results

Positive Consequences of Transitioning From On-Site to Remote-at-Home Interpreting

Positive consequences reported by interpreters and administrators were realized across 5 overarching topic areas: organizational support, new opportunities, well-being, connections/relationships, and scheduling (Table 2). Organizational support consisted of 5 themes: (1) job security (how organizations supported interpreters during the transition), (2) provision of equipment, (3) support with various ways to deliver interpreting services (to prevent “Zoom fatigue”), (4) internal information technology support, and (5) video relay–specific themes. Video relay–specific themes were use of voluntary time off (without reprimand), unlimited counseling through the employee assistance program, and listening groups because of civil unrest.

Table 2.

Positive consequences experienced by sign language interpreters and interpreting administrators upon transitioning from the delivery of on-site to remote interpreting during the COVID-19 pandemic, United States, March–August 2021

Topic area, theme, and subtheme	Exemplar quote
Organizational support
Job security	The benefit of having institutional support is knowing that you had a steady paycheck. [Educational administrator] Our supervisor gave us “projects” to do because we’re also part of the equal opportunity diversity team and reasonable accommodations, so they utilized us in different ways until we could get back into our interpreting roles. [Staff interpreter 3]
Provision of equipment	When we first were sent home, we were told to just take everything from our office with us, so I took everything except the desk, basically. We all did. [Staff interpreter 3]
Support with various ways to deliver interpreting services	When interpreters talk about Zoom fatigue, we’ve tried to address it in a few ways that we already talked about [team interpreting for all Zoom meetings] . . . ummm, as well as saying, “Okay, well, if it’s too much Zoom on your schedule, do you want to add in a couple of patient care appointments? Do you want to mix up your schedule that way?” [Staff administrator]
Internal information technology (IT) support	Bandwidth comes to mind. We merged with [another agency] probably 2½ years ago, so they have a dedicated IT department, thank goodness. Because here, we are like on a wing and a prayer. We were probably fifth on the level of files and computer systems that needed to be backed up every night. They [IT] raised us up to the second or third level, in order to give us a better streaming, so we weren’t freezing. [Community/freelance administrator]
Subtheme: VRS-specific: Providing a separate business line	We put a business line in for them [at-home video relay interpreters]. We manage an internet line, so we do all of that for them. They have to report if they are not able to work x, y, z, but then we handle that all on the back end. [VRS administrator]
VRS-specific: Use of voluntary time off (without reprimand)	Oh my god, that was the most amazing thing! If we’re in the shift and we feel like, I am not feeling it today, there’s just too much. I’m overwhelmed. I can submit some voluntary time off under self-care and I would not get any sort of reprimands. They did that specifically because COVID was coming out, people were either getting sick from COVID, they had family members getting sick from COVID, or it was just too much. [VRS interpreter 4]
VRS-specific: Unlimited counseling through the employee assistance program	There is this real fine line between us wanting to be professional managers and an employer, then wanting to open a can of worms with the emotional side of things. We want to be there. We want to be present. We want to be supportive and yet, there are boundaries on what we can and cannot do. We’re not licensed counselors. They [video relay interpreters] have, umm, what do they call it? It’s an acronym [EAP, employee assistance program], it’s counseling services, and they [upper management] made them unlimited. So, they [upper management] invested a ton of money into them, so it’s unlimited. [VRS administrator]
VRS-specific: Listening groups because of civil unrest	During the Black Lives Matter movement, we started different listening groups because there is a big problem in VRS land. I’ve seen it. I’m clearly not a person of color, so I can’t speak to that, but I’ve seen it enough that it disgusts me. I can only imagine how much it outrages them [interpreters of color]. They [interpreters of color] get deaf people all day long who will pop up and sign “Black, pah, transfer me.” And you’re like, excuse me, who in the world? Just say transfer. They [interpreters of color] deal with it all day, every single day . . . from how they [interpreters of color] sound to how they look to everything. We hosted listening groups and out of that stemmed different things within the company for support. [VRS administrator]
New opportunities
More work opportunities/broadened scope	I also get to interpret in settings that I would never be able to physically jump on a plane and go to the West Coast to do a 1-hour meeting on a Saturday, that just wouldn’t be financially feasible, but doing it remotely, I can certainly do that. So, I do enjoy the convenience of being able to broaden the settings in which I interpret. [VRI interpreter 1]
Subtheme: Increased access	For deaf people, though, it opened things up, right? They [deaf people] are like, “Oh my gosh, I can basically get an interpreter whenever, however, whatever I need . . . on the ready [snapped fingers].” To the point where it turned into “No, we can’t use VRS.” There’s a fine line between what we can do with VRS and what we can’t, and we can’t do that [laughter]. They [deaf people] have access to everything. Here they are having a video relay system, where now they are feeling some more control over their life, having access to things, and you can tell because they are like, don’t do this and don’t do that. They are exercising their ability to do that now. I think it just went on steroids in a good way. [VRS administrator]
Subtheme: Increased inclusion	Education, specifically, there are 3 domains of inclusion: academic, environmental, and then social. Environmental, obviously, is the easiest one—they take the kids out of special education and they put them in a mainstream classroom. That’s easy enough to do. Academic is not too hard, but social is the hardest thing, that’s the hardest barrier to take away and the hardest domain to achieve. But with VRI, it has really helped social inclusion, getting deaf kids connected to their hearing peers. [VRI administrator]
Subtheme: Increased visibility/use of deaf interpreters	We’ve been working to try to collaborate with the capital, which is right down the road, to provide interpreters at that level . . . the governor level and so, they [governor’s office] started contacting our office, “What are we doing? How are we communicating this with the deaf and hard-of-hearing community?” That was a great opportunity! At the beginning of the pandemic, it was actually us being like, we have to use deaf interpreters, this is how we’re going to do this and so, it was this awesome opportunity for us to finally be like, “Hey, we’re in, we’re good, we’re golden, like, trust us. We got you [double thumbs up].” [Staff interpreter 2]
Technological developments	There are a couple of companies out there facilitating agencies with getting services out through video. These are platforms that are used for VRI. They [companies] have a platform that is web-based. It will allow you to put multiple clients on it, multiple interpreters, and it will run a queue for you. Interpreters can log in and do on-demand interpreting. The development of those programs can cost over $2 million. It’s out of the realm of possibility for most agencies to create their own proprietary on-demand service, forget staffing it. So, a few developers create them and agencies can pay a subscription of, like, $700 a month. They can get the technology, staff it, and then they [the agency] pay per minute and that’s how a small company could offer on demand. They enter the market that way. [VRI administrator]
Opportunities to offer services in ways we never thought of	I think it created a really vibrant opportunity to offer services in ways we had never thought of. [VRS administrator]
Large life transitions	I know some colleagues who are considering it, have moved, or adjusted things, but me, personally, I was able to make the large transition from East to West Coast that I did a month and a half ago because my work on the East Coast is still happening through Zoom, so I still have that work while then, I am here getting connected, meeting people, networking here, and then, trying to get the jobs, the local work set up, but I still have that work ongoing and I kept those relationships there [East Coast]. [Community/freelance interpreter 1]
Ability to reframe internships for interpreting students	Unless you’re doing FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] work or you’re intentionally in emergency services, we’re not faced with crisis thinking, so how do you still function in providing whatever it is that you need to do in a crisis? It was challenging to keep the students in a space where they could actually think creatively and to give them the tools to negotiate with their respective programs. The students created ideas on how to meet their time. We created mock video remote interpreting encounters, virtual visits, and VRS, so that to me was like, “Wow, your programs would have never exposed you to this!” They [interpreting students] had a bigger learning experience. As they say, in the moment of crisis, there’s challenge, and we’ve learned some amazing things. [Staff interpreter 4]
Well-being
More prioritization of self-care	The whole transition has opened up a lot of possibilities, opportunities for work, opportunities for me to think more about my needs, and what I want my work and my life to look like. [Community/freelance interpreter 1]
More enjoyable time in between jobs	If I have an hour and a half off, I typically can’t come home. I’m just going to pick up something to eat or pull over to the side of the road while I’m waiting for the next thing to start. Or, take a nap in my car. You know? But now, I have an hour and a half, I’m like, sweet, I can actually eat with my family, if they can maybe squeeze in the same hour and a half. Or, walk outside and smell the flowers. Get some of that reprieve that’s not feeling like I’m still on. [Educational interpreter 3]
More time with family (partner)	One of the biggest things was I got to hang out with my family. [Community/freelance interpreter 3] We have 5 kids between us. We’re very busy, so with being home it was almost, like, I hate to say it, but COVID was really good for us. I know COVID wasn’t good for a lot of people, but it just forced us to reevaluate, like what our priorities were in life, what we want, what we want for our family, what’s important, and what’s not important. [VRS interpreter 1]
Being in one place (not having to drive)	I like the ease of not having to commute. [VRI interpreter 3] Knowing that I am in one place. It’s one thing that is starting to give me panic attacks right now. I’ll get a job offer or it’s like, “Hey, this came up, are you available?” Well, is it in person or is it on Zoom? Cause that’s now a huge factor for me and, like, I don’t know if I’m available. If it’s on Zoom, then yeah, I’m available, but if not, it’s like I haven’t planned my weeks that way. [Educational interpreter 6]
Connections/relationships
Improved sense of team	I think it helped for this team [the permanent at-home team] particularly to feel like they are part of the company. Up until this [COVID-19] happened, we were that stepchild remote team. They [on-site teams] would have employee appreciation things and would be in center doing potlucks, and now we can’t because of COVID. Everything became virtual. Now, every program the company does is completely accessible to this team that I’m leading. It has never been that way, so I think they don’t feel like that stepchild anymore. They are like, “Oh, we have access, yes!” And, “We’re included, yeah.” So, I think it was a perk. [VRS administrator]
Shared experience	We just had an opportunity to be human because we’re all struggling together. There’s something to be said to being in the struggle that you don’t make assumptions about how people are supposed to operate, but that you literally have to talk through, and we’re going to all get through this together, so that the real goal happens. [Staff interpreter 4]
Subtheme: Increased understanding and sensitivity of the interpreting process from all	I would say a benefit on Zoom that I’ve noticed, there’s been a lot more, like, “Hey, let’s just do open process.” Just a lot more flexibility—obviously, depending on the setting. But, let’s just get the work done. A lot of people are just less concerned with how it looks and just more concerned with let’s just do it. That’s actually a perk I’ve seen. I would even stretch that to not just the [interpreter] teams but our constituents—hearing or deaf. The flexibility, when they hear that extra voice come in, it’s not, “Oh, they missed it, they did something wrong.” It’s like we’re going forward, we’re paddling together in the boat. So, I would love to see that continue. [Educational interpreter 3]
Community/freelance and VRI-specific: Still get to meet people	I don’t have to drive to a bunch of places, but still get to do freelance work, meet people, and it’s different than VRS. If you haven’t worked it, VRS is a whole different animal, in my opinion. It [VRS] is not my forte. I know it is for some people. It is not my forte. [Another community/freelance interpreter signed, “Me neither.”] Compared to VRI work, I was really kind of scared in the beginning because I thought it was gonna be the same thing and I quit VRS for a reason. But, VRI to me is different, partly because I’m making it that way. [Community/freelance interpreter 1]
Scheduling
Ability to cover more work than in the past	There’s 1 or 2 deaf professionals who don’t work in the hospital but who have ad hoc needs, so they would need an hour interpreted in the middle of the day at a different location and we always really struggle to fill that request because it would take almost, you’re losing the hour before and after because everything is scheduled on the hour. And so now, it’s super easy to fill their requests and with the people they want because it’s on Zoom. So, that’s been a great thing, that’s been a real positive. [Staff administrator]
Subtheme: Increased ability to provide last-minute access	Any of those last-minute, “Oh, shoot, we forgot to request an interpreter” or we requested an interpreter and they’re not here. We were able to provide last-minute access in a way that we were unable to do when we were in person. [Educational interpreter 4]
Subtheme: Extended interpreter availability because of no commute	They [interpreters] can take on more work, which puts more resources in the community and that’s another reason why the deaf like it because they’re like, “Oh, there are interpreters available.” But, that’s not because there’s more people joining the field, it’s actually just because we’ve cut out all that travel time and put it back into work. I hope people like and want to keep that because as an interpreter it feels so much more effective to be able to provide services to 10 people a day than 3, and drive all over the county. [VRI administrator]
Ease with filling schedules	I would have never done an hour, like I would have never gone for an hour of work. But yesterday, I was like, “Oh, I don’t have anything. I have a VRI job at 5:30 pm or whatever, it’s 3:00 pm.” I can go up and I can work for an hour and 15 minutes, really [laughter]. I would have never had that thought a year and a half ago, ever. [VRS interpreter 2]
Establishing contracts with agencies outside the region to meet diversity requests	We have a high demand for interpreters of color. We actually have groups on campus that are like, Black interpreter only. What we are able to do, because our interpreters of color are small, I mean nationwide, we’re in a shortage and we’re working on that, which is a great thing, however in the meantime, we have 8 [interpreters of color], and they’re going through a lot and they don’t want to only be called because their skin is black. I get, understand, and respect that, so what we were able to do is we were able to set up additional contracts with other agencies, so we have people in Seattle making an appearance. We had people in California. [Educational interpreter 1]

Abbreviations: VRI, video remote interpreting; VRS, video relay service.

The topic area of new opportunities also consisted of 5 themes: (1) more work opportunities/broadened scope, (2) technological developments (new software platforms), (3) opportunities to offer services in ways we never thought of, (4) large life transitions (eg, a relocation while maintaining work connections), and (5) ability to reframe internships for interpreting students.

The transition also provided opportunities for improved well-being. This topic area consisted of 4 themes: (1) more prioritization of self-care, (2) more enjoyable time in between jobs, (3) more time with family (partner), and (4) being in one place (not having to drive).

The fourth topic area, connections/relationships, consisted of 3 themes: (1) improved sense of team, (2) shared experience, and (3) still get to meet people (community/freelance and video remote interpreting–specific). Connections/relationships were fostered through the shared experience of navigating the pandemic together. Community/freelance and video remote interpreters indicated opportunities to still get to meet people in their work as part of making connections/relationships.

The fifth overarching topic area was scheduling, which consisted of 3 themes: (1) ability to cover more work than in the past, (2) ease with filling schedules, and (3) establishing contracts with agencies outside of the region to meet diversity requests. We found considerable overlap in positive consequences between interpreters and administrators and several differences (Figure A and C).

Figure.

Similar and differing positive and negative consequences experienced by sign language interpreters and interpreting administrators when transitioning from the delivery of on-site interpreting services to remote interpreting services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Abbreviations: VRI, video remote interpreting; VRS, video relay service.

Negative Consequences of Transitioning From On-Site to Remote-at-Home Interpreting

Negative consequences incurred upon transitioning to remote interpreting across interpreters and administrators emerged across 4 overarching topic areas: technology, financial aspects, availability of the interpreter workforce, and concerns about the occupational health of interpreters (Table 3). Technology consisted of 4 themes: (1) no easing into or out of the assignment (no rapport building or debriefing), (2) seen as less human on a computer screen (interpreters as commodities), (3) technical abilities of other people, and (4) the virtual work environment.

Table 3.

Negative consequences experienced by sign language interpreters and interpreting administrators upon transitioning from the delivery of on-site to remote interpreting during the COVID-19 pandemic, United States, March–August 2021

Topic area, theme, and subtheme	Exemplar quote
Technology
No easing into or out of the assignment	I literally just open the door, and I walk out to my family right after whatever my job was . . . in a face-to-face job, that’s not the case. I get that time to walk out and decompress with my team . . . case conference. Then, you know, that drive home and they [my family] get me as is now [laughter]. [Educational interpreter 3]
Seen as less human on a computer screen	I’ve seen a shift over time of movement towards, like, oh yeah, you’re a product, here you are on the screen, rather than as an essential part of this interaction. [Community/freelance interpreter 3]
Technical abilities of other people	[H]aving clients understand how to do VRI was a real barrier. [VRI administrator] I do get frustrated with other people, like, get with it already. “I’m just not good at technology.” We’ve been doing this for 14 months! [Community/freelance interpreter 4]
The virtual work environment
Subtheme: Lack of virtual or hybrid infrastructure	It’s actually easier for me to interpret now from home, as opposed to being in an office, because we don’t have a designated interpreting space. [Staff interpreter 2]
Subtheme: Less control managing the conversation	Hearing has been very often a challenge. Sometimes just due to technology issues, but very often, if I’m on my computer and they’re [on-site participants] using an iPad in the room, and there’s machines beeping and people talking and they’re wearing masks and maybe more . . . you know? [VRI interpreter 3]
Subtheme: Home setup	Now, I have to interpret from home. Where am I going to do that? How am I going to keep the dogs out of the room? Where do I have a blank wall? Where’s the ethernet cable? Oh, I don’t have an ethernet plug in my computer. [Staff interpreter 1]
Financial aspects
Preservation tactics
VRI-specific: Had to permanently shut down branch offices	[B]rick and mortar, we had to activate the force majeure and get out of the lease, but those teams and departments, we sent them to work from home as a distributed workforce. Every single office we let go was equivalent to an employee’s full-time salary, so those were things that we were committed to doing to keep our workforce because we knew that the only assets we really had were not buildings and things, but it was the interpreters. [VRI administrator]
Educational-specific: No apprentice program 2020-2021	There are also developmental concerns. With a staff our size, we probably hire 6 to 8 interpreters a year. We have a very robust apprentice program and that becomes, basically, our developmental pool. They’ve [apprentices] lost a year. And so, even though this [implying Zoom] is technically interpreting, it’s not the sort of interpreting where you necessarily learn and grow as an interpreter. [Educational administrator]
Cost of buying/providing equipment
Staff-specific: No change in limited budget	Due to the budget we have had all the way through, it put so many constraints on technological needs and space, as well. They [staff interpreters] have used all of their own personal belongings for their work the entire time. We haven’t been able to provide them with laptops, backdrops, headsets, any of that. As well as, like it’s a common issue, but having space in the hospital, now especially that we are moving to more hybrid situations where people are working a job or two in the hospital and a job or two on Zoom. [Staff administrator]
COVID-19–related government small business grant	We did not terminate any of our employees. We did not reduce numbers. We held on to everyone. We used that employee protection program, the loan from the state. [VRI administrator]
Subtheme: Community/freelance-specific: Lower generated revenue	If we didn’t have a rainy-day fund, we probably wouldn’t survive the pandemic. . . . [A] great deal of revenue comes from the interpreter services. We have contracts that stopped because contract services were not seeing individuals, so that was another hit to us financially. [Community/freelance administrator]
Community/freelance-specific: Haggling with agencies that wanted to change working conditions	I also had to haggle with a number of the agencies I had long working relationships with who wanted to change the working conditions because I was just going to be at home. [Community/freelance interpreter 2]
Availability of the interpreter workforce
Decreased availability	I noticed that people had decided this was their moment to leave our profession. I counted 12 interpreters throughout last year, who are certified, that left our profession. And they’re like, “I’m going to go do something else now, I’m retired,” and they didn’t renew their certification this year and they don’t take work anymore. [VRI administrator]
Subtheme: Government support	We had some interpreters say, “I can’t work anymore than 3 days a week.” I heard it from 5 different interpreters that were resistant to taking assignments because it would mess up their unemployment. [Community/freelance administrator]
Migration to other interpreting settings	It’s a lot harder for small interpreting agencies to fulfill requests because everyone has now accepted full-time work from these corporations and so, little mom and pop agencies in my area are struggling. What’s going to happen is they’re [small agencies] going to lose out on that contract and they’re going to go to those larger corporations. [VRS interpreter 4]
Subtheme: Always being available (fewer boundaries]	I think, because you’re working at home, you start to learn what you’re capable of and what you’re not capable of and you push, I mean naturally . . . as humans, we push boundaries. I have learned over the past year and a half all of that, but it’s still an ongoing balance. [VRS interpreter 1]
Concerns about the occupational health of interpreters
Fear/uncertainty/change	The other thing I think that hasn’t been mentioned really, this was a scary time. March came around and we were being hunted by something that was silent and we didn’t know what was going on. We didn’t know if we could touch things. “Are we going to keep our jobs? Are we going to have access? Are we going to make sure that services are provided?” There was a lot of terror of just the unknown. And I know we, as a whole world, were going through that, but just that was a mental game in and of itself. [Educational interpreter 1]
Mental health/self-care/vicarious trauma	[W]e talk about self-care as interpreters and vicarious trauma and all these things that a lot of interpreters don’t deal with. They [interpreters] don’t have great coping mechanisms and definitely aren’t identifying their own triggers. Now, hit COVID, and those folks who are already living under the line, way sinking, are even more sinking. And their responses are dramatic. Everything that was any bit of a molehill turned into, you know, Mount Everest, and it just became impossible to overcome some of those things. [VRS administrator]
Physical concerns	The thing about interpreting in that sort of venue [signing small square in reference to the small laptop] is that it’s cumulative and it doesn’t appear right away. My concern for the long run is that people will have suffered some harm because it’s difficult. [Educational administrator]

Abbreviations: VRI, video remote interpreting; VRS, video relay service.

The topic area of financial aspects had 4 themes: (1) preservation tactics (to keep the business viable), (2) cost of buying/providing equipment, (3) COVID-19–related government small business grant, and (4) a community/freelance-specific theme of haggling with agencies that wanted to change working conditions (less pay, no 2-hour minimum).

The third topic area for negative consequences of transitioning from on-site to remote interpreting was the availability of the interpreter workforce. This topic area consisted of 2 themes: decreased availability (because of government support) and migration to other interpreting settings (away from smaller agencies to corporations) because of increased demand.

Concerns about the occupational health of interpreters was another negative consequence. This topic area had 3 themes: (1) fear/uncertainty/change (not feeling safe, fear of the unknown), (2) mental health/self-care/vicarious trauma, and (3) physical concerns (eye strain, more sedentary). We found considerable overlap and some differences in negative consequences between interpreters and administrators (Figure B and D) and a few setting-specific themes that did not seem to fit within any of the topic areas already mentioned (Table 4).

Table 4.

Setting-specific themes that did not seem to fit within any of the topic areas already mentioned for the negative consequences experienced by sign language interpreters and interpreting administrators upon transitioning from the delivery of on-site to remote interpreting during the COVID-19 pandemic, United States, March–August 2021

Theme	Subtheme	Exemplar quote
Educational specific
Organizational mismanagement	Leadership flexibility created responsibility discrepancies	[T]hey [supervisors and district administration] are trying to be supportive of staff and constantly, “Well, everyone is just doing the best that they can.” Everyone is just doing the best that they can, which is true, but to that end it also created the automatic excuse of “I don’t have to even try because anything I do is good enough because we’re all just doing our best,” which created a lot of discrepancies in service delivery and distribution of responsibilities. Adding those layers of stress on to an already very stressful situation was making it worse. [Educational interpreter 5]
	Lack of support from the districts	Lack of support from the district, I mentioned briefly that we are hourly staff, so we have no guarantee of work. If for some reason I’m not ready at home, too bad. “Okay, well, I’ll give your hours to somebody else.” The districts also made it very difficult to get out-of-pocket expenses for my at-home set-up reimbursed. [Educational interpreter 3]
	Frustrating to make recommendations to the administration without their support	They [the districts] are making us pay out of pocket. So, showing up at a workshop and hearing, “Oh, I need a desk that moves but costs 3 thousand dollars,” and “Oh, my chair is not good because I need dah, dah, dah.” . . . I can’t pay for that, so . . . I mean it’s great I got my CEUs [continuing education units], but then, like . . . is there a financial component? [Educational interpreter 3]
Scheduling	Had to pivot quickly because individuals were becoming sick	We had to be ready to pivot though. Because K-12, I’m not sure if you guys were experiencing this as much as us [postsecondary], but we were having students and professors becoming sick. So, we had to pivot quickly and that would be meetings, business meetings, I would have meetings from 8 to 11 pm in person that would change to online because 1 person out of the group of 50 had COVID, so there had to be a lot of flexibility and that still continues now. [Educational interpreter 1]
	Had set schedules, but weeks of add-on projects	We had to figure out how to do voice-overs for all these other little things because the project was due this week and they were just assigned, so it was like continually trying to figure out how do we hack into this and add ourselves in there, whether it’s a signed version of ourselves or a spoken version of ourselves. Our schedules were set, but we had these weeks of add-on projects that were really intense. [Educational interpreter 6]
	Started hybrid in January/February 2021	They [the educational interpreter] would go in, find out their student didn’t show up for class that day, have to rush home, and then join the class from their laptop that was at home. [Educational interpreter 4]
	Was remote the entire year because student chose to stay virtual	I was remote all year long. The student I was with chose to stay virtual. [Educational interpreter 4]
	Student/staff transitions from all day versus morning/afternoon versus virtual?	And it was primarily the student needs. . . . All families were allowed to elect which type of educational access they would have. For our students in high school, for example, even the students who were in person were permitted to make a choice on a daily basis, day to day. Today, I’m going to attend class via Zoom, or today I’m going to attend class in the building. So, we never knew. Are students going to be here or not be here? Am I going to have students in person? Am I going to have them online? Am I going to have them both? [Educational interpreter 5]
	Various roles for educational colleagues	I have 1 team member who has been fully remote working from home all year. I have a second one who went fully remote for part of the year. The rest of us have been back in the buildings full-time, but we are either interpreting for students who are in the building or we’re interpreting a class remotely from in the building, or our unluckiest colleagues are interpreting for classes where they have students in person and remote simultaneously and they’re trying to navigate to a computer screen and the students. [Educational interpreter 5]
VRS/VRI-specific theme
Remote teaming	Lack of trust with teams because don’t know each other	I’m very familiar with the pool of interpreters in my area. Those I feel comfortable with, whom I trust skillwise, their professionalism and punctuality, and so forth. But working remotely, especially if I’m working for an entity outside of my local area, I have no idea who this interpreter is, except for what I find about them on the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf database, if they’re in there. And I am at the mercy of whether or not they will be punctual, if they’ll show up 15 minutes early or 2 minutes early. I try to email the team ahead of time, touch base, set up logistics, and again it just depends whether they respond or not. Some people don’t respond ’til 20 minutes before the job, and it makes teaming a little more challenging. [VRI interpreter 1]
	Consumers more particular if interpreter at home or in center because of teaming	I’m getting this now [from deaf callers], “Are you at home? Because I don’t want the small, little, tiny teaming screen, are you in the center?” They’ve started asking that. [VRS interpreter 4]
VRS-specific theme
New interpreting settings since COVID-19 are stressful	Increase in college courses	Just the other day, I had to interpret a phone call where it was an American Sign Language I introduction day for the class over Zoom from a big university that did not hire interpreters. [VRS interpreter 4]
	Technology (eg, IBM) and the military	With everyone working from home, you can get 12 employees at IBM spouting off all these acronyms. The military is another good one. “Did you say QRP or QRAC?” And then, you feel like you’re behind, and it’s just stressful. [VRS interpreter 2]
	2-hour business meetings	Oh, and by the way, it’s a 2-hour business meeting! [VRS interpreter 4]
	Religious service with no schema	I’ve had to do some calls where it’s like, Islamic or Muslim practices, Jewish, and it’s all these different venues that I have absolutely no schema for and I’m going into this cold. [VRS interpreter 4]
	Virtual medical appointments	Even doctor’s visits, typically you won’t interpret a doctor’s appointment, you would interpret the making of the appointment, but now you have a virtual doctor’s appointment. And so, it’s different, it’s not something that was the norm . . . maybe every once in a while. [VRS interpreter 1]
	Increased consumer misunderstanding of role, VRS is not VRI	I seem to have noticed a lot of consumers are misunderstanding our role as VRS interpreters versus VRI interpreters. I have to put on my mean face because a lot of deaf do not understand that when we’re doing VRS, FCC [Federal Communications Commission] is very strict about what we can and cannot do. And I have to call people out and say, do my checkpoints and . . . you’re clearly in the same room here, I have to disconnect. And a lot of consumers don’t seem to understand, like the education is not there, or letting them know when it’s appropriate, when it’s not appropriate. To me, I’ve seen more of that over the last year and a half than I did in the previous 5 years. [VRS interpreter 1]
	Would have said no if this was a freelance job	I’m like, had this been a freelance job, I would have said no. I would have said no because I’m not going into the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] right now to interpret your acronym-filled thing for 2 hours because I have no concept and it’s more of a challenge. [VRS interpreter 4]
	Interpreted a veterinarian putting a dog down because of limited people	I had to interpret the conversation between a vet and someone who had to put their dog down. And was there like the last moments with their dog and everything. This vet’s office normally would have provided an on-site interpreter because this person goes to that specific vet’s office all the time, but because it was COVID and there were limitations on how many people could be in the room, only one of the owners could be in the room. That was jarring. [VRS interpreter 4]
	There’s no warning	Here, call this number and connect. There’s no warning beforehand [laughter]. You’re connected and you’re interpreting church music and I’m like, nope. I don’t do that. [VRS interpreter 4]

Abbreviations: K-12, kindergarten through grade 12; VRI, video remote interpreting; VRS, video relay service.

Discussion

This work summarized the consequences experienced by interpreters and administrators upon transitioning to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most previous data about interpreters working remotely were gathered via survey^4,10-12,15 and compiled via a scoping review. ¹⁴ We used interviews to investigate the perspectives of administrators and then sequentially gathered the experiences of interpreters via focus groups for a qualitative description. This research adds to the literature by categorizing pandemic-related work experiences across interpreting settings and was the first work, to our knowledge, to gather the organizational-level perspectives of administrators. Findings can be used to foster the health protection and promotion of remote interpreters.

The consequences reported in this work were similar to the benefits and challenges of working remotely as an interpreter in the recent literature.^4,11,12,14 The benefit of being in one place was mentioned in our work as well as in all previous studies.^4,12,14 Other past reported benefits, such as flexibility, better work environment, improved efficiency, and availability of interpreting services, including new opportunities to work with interpreters from various geographic locations,^4,12 were all echoed in our study. While interpreters in our study reported improved mental health, more opportunities to think about their needs, and fewer unique negative consequences and more unique positive consequences than administrators, they did not indicate experiencing a positive effect on work–life balance. ⁴ In contrast to maintaining a work–life balance, ⁴ interpreters in our study who migrated to other interpreting settings because of the increased demand had concerns about always being available as a negative consequence and were trying not to overextend themselves. Because many interpreters migrated to video remote and video relay settings during the pandemic, staff and educational employers should consider incentivizing their workforce, and community/freelance agencies should consider taking advantage of the technological developments now available to facilitate market entry into video remote interpreting for increased retention.

Technological or technical challenges or the many negative consequences of technology were mentioned in our study and in all previous studies.^4,12,14 Other past reported linguistic (lack of feedback from the deaf consumer and team), environmental (suitable workplace setup), and logistical (education of participants on how to use software platforms) challenges, along with social and professional isolation and eye strain/computer fatigue,^4,11,12,14 were echoed in our work as negative consequences. Interpreters expressed a desire for common standards and procedures for remote interpreting practice because of the lack of virtual or hybrid infrastructure. Thus, the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (the national professional association for sign language interpreters) might consider the creation of a standard practice paper for the dissemination of remote interpreting across settings. Because community/freelance interpreters felt the financial constraint of haggling with agencies that wanted to change working conditions, we recommend they rally together and collaborate with agencies to establish new community pay standards and working conditions that are in the best interest of all involved. While interpreters in our study reported environmental challenges (lack of environmental cues, ergonomic and developmental concerns), they did not mention children at home or other at-home distractions. ⁴ In contrast, they expressed how being in one place was particularly great for childcare, and administrators described how more prioritization of self-care allowed interpreters to enjoy doing things around the house in the middle of the day.

Setting-specific themes in our study were similar to the themes in educational, community/freelance, and video relay settings described in previous studies. ¹² Organizational mismanagement reported by educational interpreters as a negative consequence in our study aligned with work by McKibbin ¹² showing that educational interpreters received little to no support when transitioning to remote interpreting. In that study, 55% (12 of 22) of educational interpreters indicated they were not comfortable or prepared for working remotely; only 23% (5 of 22) received the necessary technical equipment, and 18% (4 of 22) received any technical support. ¹² In our study, “still get to meet people” was reported as a positive consequence, and haggling with agencies that wanted to change working conditions was reported as a negative consequence by community/freelance interpreters. McKibbin ¹² reported that because community/freelance interpreters are independent contractors or self-employed, they had no expectation of organizational support from an employer. Although these interpreters struggled with the remote transition, they were able to adapt and, unlike educational interpreters, most (7 of 12) felt comfortable or somewhat comfortable and prepared for working remotely. ¹² In our study, voluntary time off (without reprimand), unlimited counseling through the employee assistance program, listening groups because of civil unrest, and company provision of a separate business line were reported as positive consequences, and remote teaming and new interpreting settings since COVID-19 were reported as negative consequences by video relay interpreters. In the McKibbin ¹² study, video relay interpreters worked in call centers before working remotely from home; they were described as “tech savvy” and had access to social supports, such as problem solving with remote interpreting colleagues. Our study also found themes specific to staff and video remote interpreters; however, we were unable to compare these findings because no past work has categorized consequences to these settings.

Limitations

This study had a few limitations. First, the focus group analysis was limited to interpreters who had sufficient support and resources to work from home; we did not include interpreters who were unable to adapt to the remote interpreting context (likely another contributor to the decreased availability of the interpreter workforce). Second, the focus groups and interviews were conducted only with hearing interpreters and administrators. Future research should incorporate the perspectives of interpreters who were unable to adapt to remote interpreting, deaf and hard-of-hearing interpreters and administrators, and deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing consumers of remote interpreting services.

Conclusions

Implications for public health practice can be gleaned from the similar positive and negative consequences of working remotely shared by interpreters and administrators. These individual-level experiences and organizational-level perspectives provide foundational knowledge upon which to create recommendations for the anticipated sustainment of some remote interpreting practice in a manner that protects and promotes the health of this essential workforce. New ideas and initiatives should continue to be cultivated in support of the positive consequences found in our work. Specifically, other interpreting settings can now borrow from the video relay–specific theme of voluntary time off to allow for management of fear/uncertainty/change and more prioritization of self-care without penalty. The interpreting field should continue to advocate for increased visibility and use of deaf interpreters (a subtheme of more work opportunities/broadened scope), as deaf interpreters bring formative life, cultural, and linguistic experiences that offer nuanced communication access to a wide array of deaf audiences. ²¹ Organizational, individual, and social-level supports should be considered for holistically managing the negative consequences. Specifically, budgets and space should be reappropriated to account for the shift in the provisioning of services. This infrastructure should include any necessary equipment; information technology support; internet connectivity when at home, in the office, or working a hybrid schedule; and a designated virtual interpreting space when in the office. Efforts to increase interpreter retention should be closely examined across staff, educational, and community/freelance settings, and the national professional association for interpreters might consider generating a remote interpreting standard practice paper. In an effort to preserve the availability of communication access between hearing and deaf sign language users, the qualitative descriptions provided in our research can be constructively used to improve the health and well-being of sign language interpreters and their longevity in the field.