The number of immigrants with minority language background has increased over the last decades in Norway, in particular in larger cities.

In consequence, a higher share of children, young people and families with minority-language and immigrant background might need to communicate with public service providers. The question we address in this report is whether interventions to facilitate communication between minority language children, young people or families with immigrant background and public services are effective. Examples of such kind of interventions are different types of interpretation services or foreign language training programs.

We included four studies in total, addressing families with children or parents with minority language backgrounds; we found no studies exclusively addressing youth with minority language backgrounds. 

• We identified one single study that compared the effect of two different training programs of English as a second language on Spanish speaking parents’ English skills and parents’ involvement in their children’s school work. The findings indicate that an extended English as a Second Language Class (ESL) had a higher impact on parents’ involvement in students’ schoolwork and parents’ English skills than an ESL-course focussing solely on isolated language skills. This is a promising finding. As this was a small-scale study with methodological limitations, we need similar studies with a more robust design, to draw any conclusions.
• Three studies conducted within the health services compared the effect of different interpretation services (in-person interpreter, telephone interpreter, ad hoc interpreter) or bilingual personnel on different outcomes observed for families. None of these interventions appeared to stand out in favour of another. Thus, we cannot draw any conclusion on the effect in favour of one particular interpretation service.
• We did not find any studies on interventions measuring the effect on the degree of trust.