Determining the Elements of Arabic Communication Framework in Healthcare Public Relations

Arabic language communication plays major role in molding the future of public relations in healthcare industry especially in health or medical tourism. This is due to the increasing number of Arab patients coming to Malaysia seeking for treatment and most of them face difficulty in communication with Malaysian medical personnel as most of them are only able to speak in Arabic language and not in other languages. Language barriers affected whole healthcare prosesses including delay the admission, diagnosis, and consent procedures, and at worst these problems will also influence a hospital’s credibility if there are misunderstandings. To address this issue, this research highlighted an important objective of this study which is to analyze the elements of Arabic communication in healthcare public relations in order to develop an extensive framework in healthcare setting. This mixed method research utilized content analysis approach for selecting the elements of the framework extracted from previous studies as well as a set of questionnaires using Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) to gain the expert consensus of the selected elements of the suggested framework. The findings revealed four major framework elements; Arabic language, communication, public relations, and health tourism with sixteen validated sub-elements, supported by expert consensus (d < 0.2; 93%) for enhancing communication and interactions with Arab patients at the hospitals. In conclusion, the validated elements of the framework confirm their reliability and relevance in guiding healthcare public relations to effectively serve Arab patients. The study recommends that healthcare institutions through their public relations staff should use these fundamental elements as practical guidelines to improve Arabic communication strategies, strengthen cultural competence, and enhance patient services for Arab medical tourists.

Arabic communication, framework, healthcare

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