Table Of ContentA relational encounter: the lived experience of
direct social work practice with people of refugee
background
Ann Joselynn Baltra-Ulloa, BA (Hons) BSW (Hons)
A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for
the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Social Work)
University of Tasmania
September, 2014
Declaration of Originality
This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma
by the University or any other institution, except by way of background
information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of my knowledge
and belief no material previously published or written by another person except
where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis, nor does the thesis
contain any material that infringes copyright.
Candidate:………………………………………………….
Date:
ii
Authority of Access
This Thesis may be available for loan and limited copying and communication in
accordance with Copyright Act 1968.
Candidate:………………………………………………….
Date:
iii
Statement of Ethical Conduct
The research associated with this thesis abides by the international and Australian
codes on human and animal experimentation, the guidelines by the Australian
Government's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator and the rulings of the
Safety, Ethics and Institutional Biosafety Committees of the University.
Candidate:………………………………………………….
Date:
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, none of this work or the privileges and power this work
bestows on me, would be possible without the participants, their communities and
their stories they so generously and humbly shared with me. I don‟t have the
words or means for thanking you in a way that truly honours you all equally. All
that I can do is make sure this works leads to change. So, I make the promise here
that my professional life is and will be about social justice. Thank you from the
bottom of my heart. This work is dedicated to you and the millions of people who
did not make it out of those soul destroying, hell on earth, refugee camps.
My sincere appreciation for the supervision I received from Professor
Sandra Taylor and Dr Sonya Stanford. They embarked on this journey with me
and I know it was difficult and challenging at times. Thank you for persevering
and believing in me and in the work.
Thank you to Professor Martha Kuwee Kumsa for being a mentor, a
grandmother and a friend to me through the years. Thank you also to Professor
Mel Gray for your support, guidance and mentorship.
Thank you to Mara Schneiders, Debbie Smith and Dr Anne Coleman for
always checking on me, for your impromptu phone calls, emails and visits. Thank
you for teaching me how to have courage, how to stand proud in my own skin and
how to speak my truth. Thank you also to Dr Felicity Picken and Brendan
Churchill for your laughter and friendship, your knocks on the door, the countless
v
Saturdays we spent without a life dreaming of what the world was up to while we
slaved away at the computer.
Thank you Dr Terry Cox and Aunty Phyllis for your love, friendship,
warmth and for sharing spirit, wisdom and country with me - you made me feel
part of the family and you offered a home away from home.
Susan Neighbour, I have no earthly words to thank you. You are
everything I aspire to be in life.
Amira Reindorf, The Williams Family, John Lenga, Juma Piri Piri, Sonya
Plitt, Mario Amaya-Bonilla and Aunt Anaelena: thank you for your love,
friendship and for walking this journey with me.
Thank you Brian Sweeney, you lived this work with me. You helped me
find myself and I can‟t thank you enough for that. You believed in my ability and
you challenged yourself for me and for the things I showed you. You suffered
because I needed more than you could give me: I‟m sorry I held on longer that we
could both withstand. Thank you for nursing me when I was ill. Thank you for
taking on my pain as yours at times. Thank you for helping me heal from my
mother‟s loss and from the pain of losing my home. Thank you for helping me
reconnect with Chile, for helping me learn about what happened, for the films you
brought home and watched with me. Thank you for the books you made me read
and all the things you taught me. I‟m sorry I was such a bad student at times.
Thank you for working so hard to provide material things I thought would make
things better. Thank you for showing me my dark side and challenging me to own
vi
it. Thank you for connecting me to your culture and this country that is my home
now. Thank you for bringing us to Tasmania and, most of all, for our children –
they make everything worth facing.
Thank you to my daughters Chloe Nikolaou-Baltra, Bella Sweeney-Baltra
and Gabby Sweeney-Baltra. I am sorry for taking so long; I hope this journey
makes sense to you one day. I have to find ways to explain to you why, in my
heart, I need to do this work until I die. I love you three so much, everything I do
in life I do in the hope of leaving a better world for you and your children. Thank
you for everything you are and bring to this world, I love you all so very much.
Thank you Michel Gonzalez, you‟ve made the last bit of the journey
bearable. You are like a light at the end of a long dark tunnel. Thank you for
giving love another chance, for putting a smile on my face, a spark in my eyes and
hope back in my heart. You are a gift to me and I hope I do well in looking after
it.
vii
ABSTRACT
While there is significant research and theoretical literature both within
Australia and internationally that relates to social work with people of refugee
background, there is a lack of empirical research about how direct social work
practice is understood and experienced by both people of refugee background and
social workers. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach informed by
critical and anti-oppressive theories, I aimed to address this significant gap in
empirical knowledge by capturing the lived experience of social work practice
with people of refugee background.
My research questioned: how direct social work practice with people of
refugee background is understood and experienced. Thirty-one participants within
Tasmania were recruited through volunteer and snowball sampling and were
interviewed using a semi-structured interview. The participants were people of
refugee background, social workers who worked with people of refugee
background, and, social workers of refugee background. The interviews were
thematically analysed.
The interview data with people of refugee background revealed both
negative and positive experiences of social work practice. Experiencing help and
change characterised positive encounters in which social workers were
encountered as friends and partners who worked with the strengths of people of
refugee background. Negative experiences were characterised by the absence of
help, change, friendship and a sense of partnership with the practitioner.
viii
Social workers commonly described positive practice as being with people
through their personal relationships with clients. Negative practice involved being
to people. Such negative practice was unreflective, emphasised professional
boundaries and involved regarding people of refugee background as powerless.
Finally, for social workers of refugee background, the cultural exchange
experience was the focus of what, for them, comprised positive practice. Cultural
exchange was characterised by reciprocity and mutual learning between
practitioner and client. Additionally, the professionalisation of social work was
described as an obstacle to cultural exchange.
The study‟s findings highlight the significance for participants of a
relational standpoint in direct social work practice with people of refugee
background, requiring dialogical practices that were derived from and framed by
friendships and partnerships between practitioners and clients. While it is
acknowledged that qualitative findings do not easily lend themselves to
generalisation, possible implications for practice are that social work needs to
contend with how relationships with clients are understood as friendships and
developed through reciprocity, dialogue and mutual learning. Further research is
warranted to explore how to integrate these findings into the learning and practice
of social work with people of refugee background.
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration of Originality ........................................................................... ii
Authority of Access.................................................................................... iii
Statement of Ethical Conduct..................................................................... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................ v
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................. viii
List of Tables and Figures ........................................................................ xxi
CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 1
1.2 Background and Context: Rationale ................................................. 2
1.3 The Personal is Political – A Personal Journey with Political
Implications ......................................................................................................... 5
1.4 Aims and Significance .................................................................... 10
1.5 Choosing the Research Paradigm.................................................... 12
1.5.1 The Influences of Critical Theory ............................................ 12
1.5.2 The Influences of Anti-oppressive Theory .............................. 17
1.5.3 The Use of Terminology .......................................................... 20
x
