Social work with migrants: Challenges of the professional well-being of social workers in the reception system

Abstract

Introduction. The increasing presence of cultural diversity has become a prevalent aspect of social work in many EU countries. Although public services represent a relevant source of support for the inclusion process of immigrants, they also face several challenges in providing tailored and suitable health care to accommodate cultural variation and meet the diverse cross-cultural needs of immigrants. In this context, social work with immigrants is grounded in the principles of empathy and intercultural sensitivity. Social workers should value diversity and provide services that reflect an understanding of the diversity across cultures. However, given the heavy demands placed on them, coupled with increasingly diminishing resources, they often may experience psychological distress. Methods. Building on a multidisciplinary foundation, this study focuses on understanding the well-being condition of professionals operating in the migration sector by evidencing whether the levels of burnout (i.e., the experience of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficiency experienced at work because of chronic emotional and interpersonal stressor on the job) are associated with individuals’ empathy and sensitivity to different cultures and background. In detail, participants were 38 social workers, aged between 30 and 60 years (M = 39.63, SD = 11.22), from Italy (N = 8), Spain (N = 23), and Sweden (N = 7). Participants responded using well-validated instruments across the three countries for assessing burnout, empathy, and intercultural sensitivity. Results. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among social workers in Italy, Spain, and Sweden in terms of mental distance at work, interaction attentiveness when communicating with people from different backgrounds, and empathy. Beyond these differences, the findings of the profile analysis show that social workers with higher intercultural sensitivity and average levels of empathy generally report lower burnout symptoms across contexts. Discussion and conclusions. These results suggest that cultural sensitivity may be a protective factor against work-related stress across contexts, emphasizing the importance of fostering intercultural sensitivity through targeted training and support to enhance social workers' well-being and improve service delivery to migrant populations. The present study extends knowledge on the multifaceted mosaic of the everyday relationship between social workers and migration, promoting a greater understanding of professional perspectives from a multicultural perspective and the exchange of good practices between different territories and services.