Beyond cultural competence: How mental health and psychosocial support practitioners' perception of culture influence their work with Syrian refugees in Amman, Jordan.
2016 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Since the start of the Syrian war, Jordan has received many Syrian refugees with around 650,000 Syrians now residing in the country. As the state has received a lot of help from the international community, funding refugee camps and providing basic necessities, a lot of international humanitarian practitioners have come to Jordan to work alongside Jordanian and Middle Eastern practitioners. The situation therefore has brought practitioners from different academic, professional and geographical backgrounds together to work with people of a different cultural background than their own. Syrians represent a vast diversity in terms of ethnic, religious, linguistic and socio-economic backgrounds. Research have addressed that practitioners’ sensitivity to how cultural complexities may influence social problems can facilitate a better understanding of the client’s path to recovery. The purpose of our study was to increase the knowledge of mental health and psychosocial support practitioners’ understanding and experience of a culturally sensitive social work in Amman, Jordan and discuss how this affects their practice with Syrian refugees. Through qualitative interviews we found that the practitioners’ perception of Arab culture as one and the same makes culture a non-issue in terms of cultural diversity, and that this perception influence the practice with Syrian refugees in a number of ways.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. , p. 65
Keywords [en]
Social work, Syrian refugees, Syrian refugees in Jordan, Culture, Cultural sensitivity, Ethnic sensitivity, Anti-oppressive practice, Mental health and psychosocial support, Symbolic interaction theory
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:esh:diva-5357OAI: oai:DiVA.org:esh-5357DiVA, id: diva2:945248
Educational program
Socionomprogrammet
Uppsok
Social and Behavioural Science, Law
Supervisors
Examiners
2016-07-012016-07-012016-07-04Bibliographically approved