Role conflicts and management strategies in social workers working for refugees

The article presents a qualitative study of the relational dimension of the social work practice with asylum seekers and refugees. The aim of the research is to explore how a group of social workers working with asylum seekers and refugees represent their relationship with users and how they construct this relational work. In Italy, the social workers’ practice is performed by workers with different educational backgrounds, as it is not a juridically recognised job with its theoretical and operative background. In this study, 20 social workers working with asylum seekers and refugees employed in the asylum accommodation centres of the Extraordinary Reception Centres system and the Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Northern Italy participated in semi-structured interviews. From the results of the thematic analysis of the interviews, which applied a bottom-up coding strategy, it emerged that social workers describe their relationship with users as a means of intervention (goal-oriented relationship) but also as a source of information (needs-centred relationship), a negotiation process and a source of emotional strain (emotionally demanding relationship). Furthermore, the construction of relational work requires social workers to take into account normative obligations and organisational lines (contextual frame) to refer to their role but also, at the same time, to their biographical background and personal resources to develop strategies. Therefore, social workers working with asylum seekers and refugees need to find a mediation between a personal approach to the relationship and a professional one (person-role balance).