Summary

This study reviews two different types of frontline social services for unaccompanied young adult refugees participating in an intensive Social Support Programme implemented in 2016–2019 by a local municipality. More specifically, the study took a phenomenological research approach to review the impact of intensive case management and specialised educational/occupational orientation services on young refugees’ capabilities and agency to reach aspired life goals. The capability approach has been applied as a theoretical framework for identifying opportunities and challenges in this regard. The paper covers a mixed-method design that includes qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data are drawn from 42 in-depth interviews with 24 young refugees and one interview and three focus group discussions with 10 service providers. The article also includes a limited amount of longitudinal statistics on the aspirations of 31 young refugees upon entering and exiting the support programme.

Findings

This article shows theoretical and empirical evidence for utilising the capability approach to review social services for young refugees. Findings suggest that social workers and refugees face intersecting structural and interpersonal tensions that counteract with the expansion of young refugees’ capabilities and agency to reach their aspired life goals. Specific strategies are suggested to diminish described challenges.

Applications

Social work with unaccompanied young adult refugees should shift its attention from integrating these young individuals into the dominant social order, to prioritising their human development.

中文翻译：

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在无人陪伴的年轻成年难民的社会工作中使用能力方法

概括

本研究回顾了当地市政府在 2016-2019 年实施的密集社会支持计划中为无人陪伴的年轻成年难民提供的两种不同类型的前线社会服务。更具体地说，该研究采用现象学研究方法来审查强化案例管理和专门的教育/职业定位服务对年轻难民实现理想生活目标的能力和机构的影响。能力方法已被用作识别这方面机遇和挑战的理论框架。该论文涵盖了包括定性和定量数据的混合方法设计。定性数据来自与 24 名年轻难民的 42 次深度访谈以及与 10 家服务提供者的一次访谈和三场焦点小组讨论。

发现

本文展示了利用能力方法审查年轻难民社会服务的理论和经验证据。调查结果表明，社会工作者和难民面临着相互交叉的结构性和人际关系紧张，这些紧张与年轻难民实现其理想生活目标的能力和机构的扩张相抵消。建议采取具体策略来减少所描述的挑战。

应用

针对无人陪伴的年轻成年难民的社会工作应将注意力从将这些年轻人融入主导社会秩序转移到优先考虑他们的人类发展。