Summary

This article explores the relationship between social workers and adult Eritrean refugee service users in the context of a hostile political climate and restrictive state policies. It examines the implications of politics and policies on the formation of this relationship based on findings from a qualitative study conducted in Israel and Germany. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 38 participants – 16 Eritrean refugees and 22 social workers who work with refugees.

Findings

Despite different political, social and organizational contexts, especially in the asylum policies towards Eritrean refugees, our thematic analysis yielded two main themes common to both countries: First, changing relationship structures, in particular moving away from a ‘traditional’ conceptualization of the social work relationship towards ‘informal’ practices. These included modifications of the setting, of professional boundaries and of the therapeutic language. Second, shifting power relations, characterized by a friend-like dynamic, which enabled more egalitarian relations, and a parent–child dynamic, which included increased power imbalances and dependency.

Implications

An increased understanding of the role of restrictive policies, everyday racism and exclusionary political discourse in the reconstruction of the user-worker relationship dynamics could inform social work education and practice. Beyond the refugee arena, establishing informal relationship structures could help to reduce power differentials, increase trust-building and improve therapeutic outcomes with refugees and other service users. The possible risks of informal relations, such as misunderstandings or worker burnout, are also discussed.

中文翻译：

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社会工作者和难民服务使用者在敌对的政治气候中（重新）构建他们的关系

概括

本文探讨了在敌对政治气候和限制性国家政策的背景下，社会工作者与厄立特里亚成年难民服务用户之间的关系。它基于在以色列和德国进行的一项定性研究的结果，检验了政治和政策对这种关系形成的影响。对 38 名参与者进行了半结构化的深度访谈——16 名厄立特里亚难民和 22 名与难民一起工作的社会工作者。

发现

尽管政治、社会和组织背景不同，特别是在针对厄立特里亚难民的庇护政策方面，我们的专题分析得出了两国共有的两个主要主题：第一，改变关系结构，特别是摆脱社会工作的“传统”概念与“非正式”实践的关系。这些包括对环境、专业界限和治疗语言的修改。其次，权力关系的转变，以朋友般的动态为特征，促成了更平等的关系，以及亲子动态，其中包括增加的权力失衡和依赖。

影响

进一步了解限制性政策、日常种族主义和排他性政治话语在重建用户-工人关系动态中的作用可以为社会工作教育和实践提供信息。在难民领域之外，建立非正式的关系结构有助于减少权力差异、加强信任并改善与难民和其他服务使用者的治疗效果。还讨论了非正式关系的可能风险，例如误解或工人倦怠。