International migration of
professional social workers: an
exploration of their adaptation in
practice abroad
Annie Pullen Sansfaçon, Associate Professor, Université de Montréal
Marion Brown, Associate Professor, Dalhousie University
John Graham, Murray Fraser Professor, University of Calgary
Social Work Social Development 2012: Action and Impact
11th July 2012, Stockholm
Introduction
• Globalisation – increase of movement of people, including social work
professionals
• Research on such movement and its implications in social work is limited
– Some studies are focussed on the challenges and benefits of employing
international social care workers and other trained human service workers
(Evans, Huxley & Munroe 2006; Hussein, Manthorpe & Stevens, 2010;
Manthorpe, Hussein, Charles, Rapaport Stevens & Nagendran, 2010)
– processes behind foreign social work credential assessment in Canada
(Department of Employment and Immigration 2012).
– Some research focus on the experiences of qualified social workers who
migrate for professional reasons
• Even though a number of studies in other fields such as nursing and
education already investigated the experience of professional
immigration, they are not easily transferable to social work because of the
specificity of the profession
• Gap of knowledge about the experience of professionally qualified social
workers working outside the country of their education, their
acculturation and adaptation process, and the possible impact of their
migration on social work interventions.
professional adaptation, acculturation
and social work migration
• Professional adaptation can be understood through theories of
acculturation
• Acculturation refers to the process of cultural changes (as a result of
groups contact) whereas adaptation is the result of acculturation (Berry
1997).
• This definition provides a good foundation, but acculturation models such
as that proposed by Berry (1997) often draw from quantitative designs.
Those, when used to understand the experiences of the migrant
professional, are criticised (Chirkov 2009; Tardiff-William & Fisher 2009)
• Thus a change of perspective is needed to allow a broader understanding
of the phenomenon (Nguyen , Messé & Stollack 1999; Cheung-Blunden
and Juang 2008)
• Thus we suggest a qualitative paradigm that frames the acculturation of
migrant social workers as an interactional process among one’s notions of
identity, including professional identity, which involves one’s experiences
in various social work roles and interventions and the sociocultural and
professional environments
Methodology
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Grounded theory
Data from the 1st stage of the research
3 urban sites (Calgary, Montreal and Halifax) with great local variations – This helps
discovering varied social realities (Stebbins, 2006).
Sample: 15 professionally educated social workers who have completed an
undergraduate degree in social work outside Canada and are registered to
practice.
Recruitment: advertisement and snowball sampling.
Semi structured interviews looking at how experience, education, values and
understanding of the profession in their country of origin shaped social work
interventions abroad, as well as their experience of professional adaptation to
their new social work practice context.
Results presented here come from interviews with 15 participants from 11
different countries, including Lebanon, France, Romania, United States of America
(USA), Germany, United Kingdom (UK), Ukraine, the Netherlands, India, South
Africa and Nigeria. Lived in Canada for an average of 3.8 years at the time of
interview.
Results (1)
• Elements mitigating the process of
professional adaptation
– Recognition of credentials
– Difficulty in finding employment: “lack of
Canadian experience”
– Discrimination (job search, and in employment)
– use language, especially among social workers in
Quebec
– lack of understanding of the welfare system, or
the structure and work within an organization
Results (2)
• Elements facilitating the process of professional
adaptation
– capacity to transfer experiences and draw from
similarities observed between countries in terms of
culture and languages
– relevance to the Canadian context of previous
education
– Possibility of gaining new skills and knowledge
through undertaking additional training, or getting
frequent supervision
– positive relationship with colleague
– Personal dispositions
Result (3)
Impacts on practice
• Participants spoke of their experiences of immigration as
itself having an impact on their practice.
– New perspective on practice:
“My experience of immigrating here has brought me to developed
many aspects [of professional practice]. For example, when I work
with someone who has cancer and is dying [...], it is like if what I
had learned in my courses, or in my field practicum about
adaptation... it has now reached a new meaning because I myself
had to adapt to something extremely difficult ... because when I
started working [in Canada] there has been a long period of
adaptation. In my life I had different adaptations. But this one
[adaption in Canada] has been a really big one and I think that this
experience has help me understand better the adaptation a person
dying of cancer has to go through” (French Social Worker B).
Conclusions
• Data are congruent with theoretical framework to
understand professional adaptation of the social worker:
occurs within various social work roles and interventions as
well as within the personal, sociocultural and professional
environments.
• Research into professional adaptation processes must also
fully take into account personal adaptation processes
• While their journey to adapt to their new lives and to social
work practice in Canada was marked by many personal
variations, their professional adaptation was mediated
through dimensions such as their process of personal
adaptation into the Canadian society, and the elements
that facilitated or mitigated their professional adaptation.