The role of social worker in promoting immigrants’ integration

Social Work in Public Health ISSN: 1937-1918 (Print) 1937-190X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/whsp20 The Role of Social Worker in Promoting Immigrants’ Integration Erica Viola, Elena Biondo & Cristina O Mosso To cite this article: Erica Viola, Elena Biondo & Cristina O Mosso (2018) The Role of Social Worker in Promoting Immigrants’ Integration, Social Work in Public Health, 33:7-8, 483-496, DOI: 10.1080/19371918.2018.1546252 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2018.1546252 Published online: 21 Nov 2018 Submit your article to this journal Article views: 136 View Crossmark data Citing articles: View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=whsp20 Tai ngay!!! Ban co the xoa dong chu nay!!! 16990024108531000000 SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH 2018, VOL 33, NOS 7–8, 483–496 https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2018.1546252 The Role of Social Worker in Promoting Immigrants’ Integration Erica Viola , Elena Biondo, and Cristina O Mosso Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy ABSTRACT The dramatic increase in migration in Italy represents a challenge for social workers involved in the integration services The current study explores the Italian social work practice with immigrants within different working contexts through qualitative data consisting in interviews with social workers The data were analyzed through T-LAB, a software for content analysis and text mining Results showed that social workers suitably address immigrants’ needs, approaching and understanding different cultures We may conclude that social workers promote integration and individual empowerment, building a “relational bridge” between cultural diversities, immigrants’ heritage, and the mainstream culture Particularly, social workers have to meet and answer the essential needs of newcomers because the route to integration passes through the practical sphere of welfare provisions KEYWORDS Acculturation model; individual empowerment; immigration; integration process; social work Introduction The phenomenon of immigration into Europe, particularly into Italy,1 represents a significant challenge for different social workers (engaged in the fields of social services, cultural mediation, education, etc.) who practice with immigrants, promoting their integration Despite the complexity of the integration process, social workers’ skills are often “naïve,2 voluntary and experience-based” (Barberis & Boccagni, 2014, p 77) Therefore, the main aim of the current research is to shed light on practices and strategies implemented by Italian social workers to promote the integration of immigrants into the receiving society, considering different fields of intervention The integration process transcends nationality and reasons for migration Therefore, focusing on social workers’ action, we will consider people from European Union (EU; intra-EU mobility, particularly from Eastern Europe) and non-EU countries (extra-EU mobility, particularly from Africa) as well as refugees (asylum seekers) as part of the same category of newcomers Transnational migrations in Europe and Italy Current migratory flows have been increasing in Europe since 2011 (62,500 immigrants arrived in 2011, compared to 241,643 newcomers estimated in the first months of 2016), following the Syrian war and the political crisis in Libya (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016) By the end of June 2017, the total number of registered arrivals into Europe dropped by 58% from the same period of 2016 Nevertheless, a different tendency has been observed in Italy: the new arrivals show a 19% increase compared to the same period of 2016 and a 31% increase compared to June 2014 (International Organization for Migration [IOM], 2017) CONTACT Erica Viola violaerica84@gmail.com Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, Turin, 10124, Italy Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/whsp © 2018 Taylor & Francis 484 E VIOLA ET AL Italy is considered a “country of transit” as many immigrants and refugees pass through it to reach other European nations (Pugliese, 2016) However, the phenomenon is gradually changing because the number of immigrants who stay in Italy long term is increasing (Frigeri & Ferro, 2016) Currently, there are over five million foreign residents who are the 7% of the total population (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2016) The socioeconomic crisis, the increase in relative and absolute poverty and in negative prejudice against outgroups, worsenx immigrants’ living conditions Therefore, international migration represents a challenge for social workers who specialize in practice with immigrants, promoting the integration Integration process: the role of social workers Integration process allows for the development of a multicultural society The role of social workers in promoting immigrants’ successful integration is crucial The social work welfare sector promotes social cohesion, collective responsibility, individual and community empowerment Particularly, empowerment (e.g., Rappaport, 1987) is an important goal, increasing social participation and commitment Because of the wide spectrum of their mandate, social workers are employed by public, private, formal, and informal (voluntary) services and constitute a relevant source of support for the whole population Professional skills and the participation in different settings (e.g., social assistance, education, etc.) place social workers in a pivotal position, actively engaged in the integration process of immigrants, as well (Wegmann, 2014) Particularly, social workers address newcomers’ needs and necessities who are often facing lack of resources, social barriers, intolerance, and negative prejudices of the host population (Fazzi, 2012) In the Italian contexts characterized by a “munificent welfare” (Caltabiano, 2004), distinctive socioeconomic and organizational aspects of the social-assistance structure ensure resources’ allocation and support to citizens and immigrants In these contexts, immigrants benefit from integration projects and evaluate positively the national social system (Monaci, Carbone, & Bonapace, 2010) However, many regions even fail to allocate sufficient resources due to the lack of public funding As a consequence, citizens perceive newcomers as a threat to their own rights and the integration process—which requires the commitment of immigrants and the receiving society—becomes ever more challenging for social workers The complexity of the integration process will be examined analysing Berry’s (1997, 2001) acculturation model and Ager and Strang’s (2008) approach These models are complementary in dealing with the theme of integration Berry (1997, 2001) considers integration an acculturation strategy implemented by immigrants, feasible within a mainstream characterized by a multicultural ideology, in which hospitality and inclusion are promoted Ager and Strang (2008), in turn, consider the integration in terms of basic needs and civil rights fulfilment Following these theoretical lines, we will briefly review the literature on acculturation strategies and then consider essential acquisitions for a successful integration An integrated approach can develop a useful framework for social workers Integration as a crucial strategy of acculturation Acculturation represents a multidimensional process, which originates in the encounter between immigrants’ heritage and receiving-cultural traditions and values (e.g., Schwartz, Unger, Zamboanga, & Szapocznik, 2010) It stems from intergroup contact and entails a mutual change of attitudes and behaviors for immigrants and receiving societies (Berry, 2001) The relevant literature has often investigated acculturation process within immigrant groups However, receiving societies and newcomers face intercultural situations by adopting different acculturation strategies SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH 485 Table Intercultural strategies for immigrant groups and receiving societies (adapted from Berry, 2001, p 618) Maintenance of heritage Culture and identity Desired relations among groups + - Strategies of ethnocultural groups + – Integration Assimilation Separation Marginalization Strategies of larger society + – Multiculturalism Melting pot Segregation Exclusion Note The “plus” and “minus” symbols are not referred to quality evaluations but are respectively referred to a greater (or lesser) tendency either to maintain one’s culture, or to search for an intergroup contact The acculturation strategies depend on two independent, but related, factors: (1) the degree of intercultural contact and social participation (i.e., to what extent immigrants are involved in the mainstream) and (2) the degree of cultural maintenance desired by groups (i.e., heritage’s values and culture importance) (Berry, 1997) Depending on these factors, four possible acculturation strategies emerge, for the immigrant group and the host society (see Table 1) From the immigrants’ point of view (on the left side of Table 1), the integration strategy occurs when immigrants maintain their heritage adopting, at the same time, the culture of the receiving society; vice-versa, when there is a lack of interest in cultural maintenance and intergroup contact (because of discrimination or intergroup hostility) the marginalization takes place; the separation strategy occurs when immigrants want to preserve their traditions and avoid intergroup interaction; finally, the assimilation strategy refers to the lack of interest in maintaining cultural heritage and immigrants consider themselves as part of the mainstream culture The receiving society influences the strategies used by immigrants (right side of Table 1) When the larger society supports a multicultural ideology, integration is called “multiculturalism”; when marginalization is imposed, the majority group is using the exclusion strategy; when separation or assimilation is enforced, segregation or melting pot, respectively, occurs Integration and multiculturalism are the most suitable strategies because they favor interaction and contact between different cultural identities However, another factor must be considered is the satisfaction of essential needs, a core aspect of a successful integration process Essential needs fulfilment: the substantial basis of integration The integration process requires an equal access to welfare system to address immigrants’ primary needs However, the current crisis increases an overall risk of poverty and social exclusion, hindering the work of social workers who cope with immigrants’ needs and claims (see Barberis & Boccagni, 2014) For example, employment seems to be crucial in facilitating integration, but the paucity of migratory policies in Italy increases the incorporation of immigrants into the labor black market, concealing their working contribution According to Ager and Strang (2008), specific provisions are essential for a successful integration process At a first level, the achievement and the access to key areas of the public activity (i.e., employment, housing, education, and health) are indicative of a successful integration Achievements in these areas represent markers of integration and, simultaneously, means to support integration At the highest level of provisions, citizenship and rights represent the foundation of nationhood in all countries Citizenship includes responsibility and participation in public and political activities, whereas rights concern the possibility to maintain cultural identity and practices Social connection mediates between markers-means and foundation Social relationships within and between groups, as part of the “intercultural social tissue,” facilitate the communication and the integration at a local level Finally, different facilitators allow to overcome structural barriers, which concern two main areas: (1) language and cultural knowledge and (2) safety and security Language competence represents a cross challenge, and multicultural contexts should provide mediation services to facilitate the communication among cultures Moreover, an integrate community relies 486 E VIOLA ET AL on mutual knowledge and understanding of different cultural expectations Public safety and national security priorities concern the desire of peace, overcoming forms of oppression and social threats Resources allocation versus the “progressive’s dilemma” Resources allocation may be affected by the socioeconomic crisis and by the potential intolerance of the host society The citizens tend to blame social workers who support immigrants whether they perceive threatens to their benefits and resources A greater perception of threat increases negative attitudes and reactions toward foreigners Particularly, the modern society still swings between two ambivalent attitudes: negative attitudes and egalitarian values The tension between ethic value of solidarity and ethnic diversity, called “progressive’s dilemma” (Calvo, Rojas, & Waters, 2014; Pearce, 2004), requires the ability of the social organization to reduce prejudices and overcome unfounded perceptions of threat A possible solution is the universalization of social services, which may facilitate intergroup interaction and the access to welfare for the whole population (Calvo et al., 2014) Universal social programs deal with the population equally, implement coexistence initiatives, and allow intergroup contacts, whereas means-testing programs (e.g., poverty programs) exclusively support the poor segment of the population Overview of the current study This study focuses on an urban area in the northwest of Italy, characterized by a strong presence of foreign citizens New programs and initiatives have been activated to promote the integration process However, there are still some problems due to the increase in migratory flows and the pervasive crisis Social workers involved in the integration process within different formal and informal fields of action have been interviewed to understand the working contexts and adopted strategies According to the constructivist approach, a qualitative data analysis has been employed: the interpretative research allows a more in-depth understanding of the context in which the phenomenon is studied (Golafshani, 2003; Weng, 2012) Knowledge and reality develop through human practices and interactions between individuals and the specific social context (Crotty, 1998) Constructivist investigation looks at the phenomenon through personal experiences and stories Participants tell their own personal experiences together with the researcher, creating a mutual and negotiated process, which favors the progressive understanding of the phenomenon (Rodwell, 1998) However, the specific contextualization reflects the national and international social situation Aims This study focuses on the role of social workers, involved in the integration process of immigrants, who are the main (often unrecognized) source of support and intervention in the receiving society The main purpose is to explore the ways of integration pursued by the social workers involved Integration, as a twofold desire to maintain one’s own traditions and to make an intergroup contact, depends on the adoption of a multicultural ideology by the mainstream as well Therefore, it entails the immigrants, institutional (i.e., social workers) and social sphere of the mainstream In addition, integration can be reached when institutions are geared to specific essential needs: primary needs and the acquisition of a legal status and social rights As a consequence, the concept of integration cannot be reduced either to the definition of Berry (e.g., 2001), or to the definition of Ager and Strang (2008), concerning both of these dimensions For these reasons, the first aim is to investigate the significance of the integration process from the social workers’ point of view The second aim is to highlight, for each professional area, the SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH 487 major problems and difficulties daily faced We want to explore practices and efforts necessary to improve integration, trying to understand how social workers act to promote the integration The third aim is to investigate to what extent the real experience reflects the theory, trying to answer a few questions: “Is integration a matter of achieving a pluralist social ideal or rather a matter of resource allocation? To what extent is integration a complex process derived from the efforts of specific assistance branches of the host society faced different cultures?” Finally, from the social workers’ point of view, “What are the milestone of integration?” Method Participants Twenty social workers employed in a municipality in the Northwest of Italy took part in this study The percentage of immigrants in this area is about 9.6%, most of them coming from Romania and Morocco The participants could be part of formal (i.e., social service, cultural mediation, education, healthservice, security service) and informal networks (i.e., not-for-profit sector, voluntary and religious associations) Procedure Participants were interviewed during working hours and after being contacted by telephone Two researchers interviewed the participants.3 Interviewers explained the aims of the study (viz, the interest to understand activities and strategies concerning the integration of immigrants) Ethical norms and guidelines for the research project have been respected, anonymity and confidentiality were guaranteed All the participants gave consent to the processing of data for research purposes Each interview was recorded, and then typed in the txt format for the analyses using T-Lab 8.0 version software (Lancia, 2004) Particularly, T-Lab allows us to analyze data and yield categories starting from a single corpus (the entire recoded text) subsequently interpreted by the researchers It represents the appropriate tool for this study, which aims to understand the complexity of the integration process Measure A semistructured interview, lasting on average 30 to 40 minutes, was conducted This interview was composed of four sections The first section examined the current immigration situation within the municipality, changes happening over time (e.g., growth in number of immigrants, changes in the origins of immigrants, the impact of economic crisis, etc.) and the significance attributed to the concept of integration within their working environments The second section concerned crucial problems for immigrants (employment, housing, legal status, well-being, etc.) This section also concerned complex situations, such as family reunification procedure, academic and social inclusion, critical familiar situations (alcoholism, abuse) etc., and the practical strategies for problem solving A subsequent section examined institutional difficulties (lack of resources, lack of information, growing bureaucratization, etc.) and solutions (e.g., increasing accessibility to services, multidisciplinary, etc.), particularly focusing on the cooperation among different professional figures To facilitate recall, respondents were asked to describe events faced recently Then, respondents were asked to suggest effective programmes to facilitate integration process Finally, the fourth section investigated future expectations Data analysis Before proceeding with the analysis, grammatical errors were corrected and the keywords have been classified into overordinate conceptual categories.4 Five documents were used for the analysis, 488 E VIOLA ET AL representing the different fields of intervention: social services (SSs), cultural mediation (CM), education (EDU), other fields of intervention (OFs), and no-profit associations (NPAs) The documents were handled by customizing the dictionary (obtaining a total of 2,647 distinct words and 1,290 lemmata), disambiguating homonyms and joining composed words (e.g., social_worker) Concerning the analyses, the word association will show the significant relationships between cooccured keywords, the specificity analysis (conducted for each category of social workers) will show exclusive and typical concepts for each fields of intervention, the hierarchical cluster analysis will show the significant thematic contents (based on the factorial analysis of the report) The whole corpus includes 11,563 occurrences (occ) We considered the words with a threshold frequency equal to four for a list of 78 key words Results Word association analysis The word association organizes for specific key concepts a semantic structure of main associated word We decided to focus on the keywords integration and immigrant to understand the social workers’ representation of the integration process and the newcomers (see Table 2) The social workers mostly associate integration with difficulties in integration process for Roma people, who would embrace the separation strategy, living on the boundaries of the community (e.g., NPAs: “> Roma< > integration< is difficult, because of their mentality”) The participants not perceive cultural differences as difficulties for the integration (e.g., EDU: “You have to think that they can > integrate< into society, while still remaining citizens of two > different< worlds”) Then, the importance to address specific primary needs emerged (e.g., OFs: “If you have a > home< and an > employment< you are able to > integrate< yourself”) They also highlight the importance of an effective communication (“The problem is (…) > interaction< [> Interaction Unemployment< affects the payment of a rent > Foreigners< have the same rights of Italian population”), highlighting the problem of the black labor market as well (e.g., NPAs: “[Many > immigrants employed employment< are illegal”) They also describe the complex process of obtaining the regular status (e.g., CM: “[> Immigrants legalize< their status…”) Moreover, they report the attempts to facilitate access to useful information for immigrants (e.g., OFs: “Together with the Municipality, we provide and share > information immigrants< which can support them but they not know it”) Table Associated Keywords and Related Coefficients for the Concept of Integration and Immigrant Integration Immigrant Associated keywords Coeff Associated keywords Coeff Roma Diversity Employment Home Communication 38 25 23 23 21 Employment Legality Information 32 29 28 Note Coeff = cosine coefficient SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH 489 Table Typical Specificity Analysis relating to Each Category of Social Workers Social-services Cultural mediation Education No-profit associations Other social services Keyword Woman Education Discrimination Bureaucracy Fear To explain School Minor Communication Welfarism Employment Problem Health-care system Legality Mediation χ2 30.74 25.95 3.98 26.89 25.79 24.74 38.32 33.14 25.49 35.7 18.15 13.92 219.01 60.25 45.97 p 001 001 05 001 001 001 001 001 001 001 001 001 001 001 001 Typical specificity analysis The typical specificity analysis of the “subcorpus” (categories of social workers) has revealed challenges and features for different fields of intervention (see Table 3) Social-services In this field of intervention, social workers indicate women as primary users, often on the behalf of the families According to the literature, women are common;y considered more at risk than men (Berry, Poortiga, Segall, & Dasen, 1992), and SSs deal with many situations concerning, for example, the abuse of wives by husbands, or single mothers who try to raise their children within a new social, cultural, and bureaucratic context The problems are exacerbated because of cultural differences, which may distance from this institution (e.g., “We must use a different approach with immigrant > women< (…) there could be something more complex, that they not tell us either because of fear, or because it is considered ordinary (therefore, insignificant) in their culture For example, husbands’ alcoholism, in Romanian community, is not a problem…”) SSs highlight the positive consequences of educational processes for minors and adults Education breaks down language barriers and facilitates mutual understanding They refer to “scholar” as well as “local” education (i.e., social inclusion activities for newcomers who need support) active and available for immigrants (“There is the possibility of > scholastic_educational< hours It would be very useful”) Moreover, SSs report the immigrants’ perception of discrimination and prejudice (“[Immigrants] feel the > discrimination< against them…”) Cultural mediation Cultural mediators mostly deal with bureaucracy processes, assisting and accompanying immigrants along organizational and practical ways toward the regularization of their status (“Vicious circles: the 20-year-old boy who has no type of > document< except his birth certificate (…) he needs to be regularized to gain access to a job and to the health service”; “We address them to (…) the foreignoffice, the embassy for the > documents< Maybe they need to translate a > document< to legalize their status…”) CMs report that newcomers often fear to turn to the institutions due to a lack of a deeper knowledge (“They [immigrants] are > afraid< that social-services could throw their children out (…)”; “There is the > fear< of those who have the power”) CMs recognize their role between two cultures; the mediation, as a bicultural bridge, allows a mutual knowledge Intergroup connections are built through explanation and mutual comparison (“I have to > explain< that institutions want to help families and children”; “When the user arrives, we give him/her information about everything If he has a family, we > explain< how things work in Italy”) Cultural mediators facilitate the communication with institutions, give information, translate documents, and create a contact between newcomers and the host society 490 E VIOLA ET AL Education Teachers focus on school and minors, the educational environment, and recipients (“Immediately, we have been looking for activities to receive [foreign] > children< within the > school< (…) and not just within the class where the > child< was enrolled”) They mostly report barriers to effective communication due to linguistic differences (“Sometimes the > communication< becomes really difficult because parents not speak Italian”) Likewise, recognizing the value of the diversity, they convert an assumed obstacle to a resource through which mutual knowledge can take place (“He/she [the foreign child] > says< us words in his/her language, and we [teachers and students] > say< him/her the same words in the Italian language”; “Even the > communication< about the less important matters happens; it is necessary both at the linguistic and the cultural level”) No-profit associations NPAs report the negative impact of welfarism opposed to the maintenance of the autonomy of immigrants (“We must help them to take their little or big responsibilities No > welfarism assistance< Promotion means talking to them without commiseration…”) They also report problems in the field of employment: illegal work and the widespread unemployment (“Many immigrants have an > employment< However, I dare say that many kinds of > work< are illegal…”; “The real problem is: «I am here, but I not have a > job problem< is housing payment”; “The > problem< is also the interaction”; “A real > emergency pathologies< are infectious, cardiovascular; we care diabetes and gastritis (…) They not eat either healthy, nor adequately”), providing a framework for understanding cultural interpretations of the therapeutic treatments, highlighting the impact of the culture on diagnoses and treatments (“Concerning > vaccinations irregular< immigrants However, for example, I continue to deal with the pregnant woman even when she has > regularized< her status”; “The highest percentage of immigrants is constituted by > irregulars regular< job and/or become part of the > crime< tout court”) Linked to the illegality condition, these professional figures emphasize the role of the cultural mediation to improve immigrants access to health and public services (“Cultural > mediation< allows the first contact between immigrants and doctors”; “For us, the fact that we have hours of > mediation< from the municipality has been a breath of air”) Cluster analysis The main issues that characterize the interviews were finally analyzed through a hierarchical cluster analysis.5 Four clusters were identified (see Table 4) Intervention fields concern core aspects of the interventions (mostly observed among social services dedicated to health and security) Recipients and integration pathways, associated with different professional fields, embraces a wide range of concepts: the main users of the services as well as concepts concerning the interventions (e.g., intercultural communication process, diversity, etc.) Foundation is not associated with a specific professional area but mostly includes concepts SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH 491 Table Identified Clusters and Related Percentages of Representation within the Corpus; Associated Variables, Keywords, and Occurrences Concerning Each Cluster Clusters (%) Associated variable (V-test value) Intervention fields (8.3) OF (38.45) Recipients & integration Pathways (33.7) EDU (219.35) SS (75.42) CM (8.72) Foundation (18.6) - Needs analysis (39.9) NPA (44.96) SSs (37.63) OFs (6.7) Keywords Occurrences Health care Mediation Legality Family Minor School Communication Intervention Diversity Hospitality To learn Bureaucracy Culture Social services Women To succeed Academic inclusion To explain Ethnicity Problem Employment Difficulty To help Housing Need 69 37 34 143 141 110 82 35 34 32 15 37 36 35 29 24 21 17 133 105 90 63 55 52 49 Note OF = other fields of intervention; EDU = education; SS = social services; CM = cultural mediation; NPA = no-profit associations linked to bureaucratic procedures to obtain a regular status and the main actors involved in this process (i.e., social services and women) This cluster also concerns the useful actions to improve the integration within the scholastic institution for children and adolescents (i.e., academic inclusion) Needs analysis, the most representative cluster, concerns general problems and needs: ethnic differences, problems to deal with every day, unemployment, and so on, involving social workers who deal with primary needs within a bicultural context Discussion The current study allows to understand the contribution of different social workers in the integration process of immigrants Formal and informal social workers represent important networks of support, playing an active role in the integration process Social workers, pillars of welfare, provide support and opportunities for immigrants, recognizing and respecting cultural differences despite possible social barriers Without replacing people’s abilities, they manage to develop individual responsibility and empowerment, making newcomers able to face different situations According to Berry (2001), social membership can be achieved through the integration strategy, which encourages cultural maintenance and intergroup contact Therefore, the integration strategy is successful within cultures that embrace a multicultural ideology The multiculturalism theory connects psychosocial studies on intergroup relations with studies concerning the integration process However, from a normative perspective, Berry’s (1997; 2001) theory lacks the consideration of the essential components for a successful integration Ager and Strang (2008), in turn, explored an operational definition of the integration, showing that key domains of this strategy concerned employment, housing, education, and health, at a more basic level—citizenship and rights—at the highest level of provisions Social connection and facilitators (e.g., cultural mediation, social security, 492 E VIOLA ET AL etc.) mediate between these two categories of achievements as well as between the achievements and the host society Social workers, dealing with the newcomers and the host society, can offer a significant and valid interpretation of the complex process of the integration The present study shows that social workers mostly associate the integration process with the attempt to allocate resources and address concrete needs, getting closer to the Ager and Strang’s (2008) approach The participants emphasize the importance of responding to immigrants’ primary needs, markers, and means to promote the possibility of integration Nevertheless, pervasive and macrosocial problems, such as unemployment and black labor market, represent detrimental obstacles toward integration Foundations (regular status and rights) represent essential resources as much as markers and means The citizenship, the highest level of membership, entails obligations as well as rights Although bureaucracy significantly slows down citizenship acquisition, the citizenship is the only possibility for immigrants to be part of the public and political arena The social workers highlight that citizenship facilitates the participation and does not necessarily entail the assimilation, considering the diversity as a social enrichment This last observation follows Berry’s (e.g., 2001) thought in taking into consideration the importance of the contact between groups, which will maintain their own cultural heritage Mutual communication and cultural mediation promote social connections between immigrants and the host society and allow to respond to information needs The role of the cultural mediation within multidisciplinary teams is essential in the integration process, improving the understanding and the communication among (not merely with) different cultures The mediation promotes successful cross-cultural communication, connections, and the flourishing of a multicultural society It is not considered a mere matter of “translation” (linguistic-textual operation) because it entails the understanding of thoughts and feelings In this sense, the mediation can promote intergroup contact, reducing the barriers between groups According to Berry’s (e.g., 2001) model, the acculturation strategies for immigrants and host societies influence each other but not show possible connections This study highlights that the efforts of social workers are the first step toward integration, whereas cultural mediators, “cultural bridges,” can represent a metaconnection, supporting formal and informal intergroup relations within pluralistic contexts Therefore, the social workers have to work within multidisciplinary teams, including cultural mediators, who may offer emphatic and mutual understanding Social work and host society According to Berry (e.g., 2001), integration is not conceivable without the involvement of the mainstream However, the role of the host society emerges marginally among the social workers, exclusively focusing on immigrants Allusions to the community mainly concern the pervasive hostility toward newcomers Participants are aware that prejudices and discrimination episodes are spreading in the community, but the possibility of tackling the problem does not emerge from the interviews Actually, they tend to rationalize the racism because of the socioeconomic crisis, which is overwhelming the whole population (increasingly vulnerable and needy) Limited resources cause negative reaction against attempts to fulfill immigrants’ needs, perceived as threats to the mainstream’s rights The more the poverty gap between immigrants and natives decreases, the more the citizens refuse the explanation that “aid has no nationality.” The social workers believe that, whether the social conditions were not precarious, the host society would desire intergroup contact Thus, racism would be the result of the current social crisis, giving priority to personal needs over the needs of fragile sections of the population Moreover, the perception of an assumed “invasion” raises social barriers against newcomers As we showed, the progressive’s dilemma (e.g., Pearce, 2004), the tension between ethnic diversity and social solidarity, between “ethical egalitarian values and implicit nativism” (Barberis & Boccagni, 2014, p 71), is overflowing among citizens SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH 493 It is necessary that social workers extend the focus of their work to the society and promote the coexistence of different social groups, for example, realizing prejudice-reduction interventions, inclusive multicultural learning environments, and so on Particularly, justifications for any form of racism, which lead to avoid the problem, cannot be accepted Interventions in different fields of action Considering the fields of action of social work, different problems and strategies can be detected within each area of intervention This aspect yields an even more articulate image of the integration process, which cannot be disregarded from microaspects Some social workers, more than others, know that the unawareness may cause a widening of the cultural gap and a removal of immigrants from services According to social services, for example, the main difficulty concerned the lack of mutual understanding and knowledge about their role from immigrants, which produces suspiciousness and fear Unjustified concerns especially inhibit foreign women, who, more than men, address institutions and request assistance, attempting to ensure a better future for themselves and their children This situation deserves attention considering that women often experience difficult living conditions (i.e., alcoholism, abuse) Because of the fear toward social services, mediators facilitate contact and communication between newcomers and institutions In turn, teachers focuse on minors, trying to bridge the distances among students from different cultures and between culturally different families and school Teachers are sensitive about social integration and promote coexistence and mutual understanding For example, they emphasize different cultures and traditions among students, as an enrichment strategy, hoping to lay the foundations of a multicultural society Within the health dimension, because illegality situations distance immigrants from care services, some health services have arisen to help people regardless of their social/economic status Doctors often have to explain the significance of some therapeutic treatments (e.g., the importance of vaccination), while the mediation proves, once again, to be crucial for enhancing compliance Finally, at each level of action, NGAs play an important role because they provision immigrants when the formal institutions not succeed to meet their needs, fulfilling an essential buffer function Moreover, they offer informal and supportive forms of assistance, trying to promote empowerment rather than welfarism (i.e., without falling into paternalism and assistentialism) To sum up, as illustrated in Figure 1, social workers associate the integration process with the ability of the formal and informal support system to fulfill immigrants’ primary needs and Figure The integration process promotion through social workers’ practices 494 E VIOLA ET AL foundations Although recognizing that the hostility in a large part of the mainstream prevents the integration, interventions aimed at developing a multicultural ideology (with the exception of schools) are not contemplated The whole sample of social workers agrees that the integration is possible through respect and toleration of the different ethnocultural identities Social workers highlight the importance of understanding cultural identities, values, and beliefs and of being sensitive about immigrants’ need for recognition This represents the basis from which primary needs can be considered, co-constructing the intervention together with the users (e.g., SSs: “If they [immigrants] face a specific situation in a different way, then I try to understand how they would face it; if there is a problem in a couple, I immediately apologize for any misunderstanding and I ask for further explanations”) They also aim to increase autonomy and individual power versus dependency Communication and satisfaction of information needs aim to develop interventions focused on the improvement of welfarism and individual empowerment, rather than provide mere standard benefits packages (see Campanini, 2008) When the integration process is effective, immigrants may progressively improve their “action power” and exert more control over their lives Interdisciplinary teams, which involve cultural mediators, are essential for achieving these goals Interdisciplinary synergy may improve the capacity of social workers to achieve integration goals Future directions The two-way process of integration can be developed allowing the coexistence of different cultural heritages (cf Berry, 2001) However, this study shows that the social workers not contemplate the implication of the mainstream In light of the perceived hostility of citizenship, this form of reductionism can represent a dangerous omission and, in the long run, could obstacle the integration Social workers should develop programs to prevent/reduce racism, to promote multicultural education, increasing respect and inclusion This scenario leads to a briefly hint about social workers’ training (cf Fazzi, 2012) Because of the complexity of the integration process, social workers should develop specific competences linked to the needs assessment, intercultural skills, the implementation and the evaluation of interventions Social workers (mostly within informal fields) often face such situations without specific competence, and this may expose them to dramatic consequences (e.g., psychophysical collapse, stress, burnout, etc.) Limits of the research The contextualization of our results and the relatively small sample, focused on daily experiences (rather than on specific projects), may be a limitation of this research Nevertheless, this focus is necessary due to the dynamic process examined, which does not employ a predetermined package to be effective However, the considered context reflects international and national situations (except for rare exceptions), and this study provides useful insights concerning social work with immigrants Additional studies can further investigate how social workers act to promote integration, integrating this aspect with useful guidelines and evaluation data Conclusion The experiences described by social workers have shown the complexity of the integration process Social workers consider the integration as a basic-needs fulfilment process for immigrants This is crucial but insufficient to achieve integration To further substantiate and extend their action, they will also have to develop multidimensional interventions (rather unidimensional intervention focused on immigrants), which aim to promote acculturation and positive intergroup relations SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH 495 Intercultural coexistence is already the current reality Social workers play an essential role in promoting the integration process; however, they will have to consider, besides the “concrete provision dimension”, the subtle dimension of the intergroup relations and dynamics It is our hope that the results of this study will spur further research and social interventions in this field Notes Concerning immigration flows, Italy and Greece are the most exposed European countries, mostly because of their geographic location at the center of the Mediterranean basin The term naïve may have different meanings, even pejorative In this article, it refers to skills and working methods derived from the subjective work experience of social workers Two researchers conducted the interviews, and then one of them participated in the phases of data entry and analysis together with a third researcher who had not taken part in the interviews This approach has allowed to maintain a certain degree of objectivity in the course of research For example, class and school were inserted in the general category of education; relatives and brother/sister were inserted in family Ward’s method (1963) Partition criterion is fixed at a 50% threshold of the intercluster and total variance ratio Lexical units were used ORCID Erica Viola http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6586-9343 References Ager, A., & Strang, A (2008) Understanding integration: A conceptual framework Journal of Refugee Studies, 21, 166–191 doi:10.1093/jrs/fen016 Barberis, E., & Boccagni, P (2014) Blurred rights, local practices: Social work and immigration in Italy British Journal of Social Work, 44, 70–87 doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcu041 Berry, J W (1997) Immigration, acculturation and adaptation Applied Psychology, 46, 5–68 Berry, J W (2001) A psychology of immigration Journal of Social Issues, 57, 615–631 doi:10.1111/josi.2001.57.issue-3 Berry, J W., Poortiga, Y P., Segall, M H., & Dasen, P R (1992) Cross-cultural psychology: Research and applications New York, NY: Cambridge University Press Caltabiano, C (2004) Il prisma del welfare: Analisi dei regimi socio-assistenziali nelle regioni italiane [The welfare’s prism: Analysis of social welfare regimes in Italian regions] Rome, Italy: IREF Calvo, R., Rojas, V., & Waters, M C (2014) The effect of universal service delivery on the integration of Moroccan immigrants in Spain: A case study from an anti-oppressive perspective British Journal of Social Work, 44, 123–139 doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcu047 Campanini, A (2008) Quale ruolo per gli operatori sociali? [What is the role of social workers?] Prospettive Sociali e Sanitarie, 38, 1–3 Crotty, M (1998) The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process St Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin Fazzi, L (2012) Social work in the public and non-profit sectors in Italy: What are the differences? European Journal of Social Work, 15, 629–644 doi:10.1080/13691457.2011.557180 Frigeri, D., & Ferro, A (2016) The importance of migrants’ financial inclusion as part of the integration process In G Cataldi (Ed.), A Mediterranean perspective on migrants’ flows in the European Union: Protection of rights, intercultural encounters and integration policies (pp 255–270) Naples, Italy: Editoriale Scientifica Golafshani, N (2003) Understanding reliability and validity in qualitative research The Qualitative Report, 8, 597–607 International Organization for Migration [IOM] (2017, June) Migration flows to Europe – Quarterly overview Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/report/world/migration-flows-europe-quarterly-overview-june-2017 Lancia, F (2004) Strumenti per l’analisi dei testi Introduzione all’uso di T-Lab [Tools for the analysis of texts Introduction of T-Lab use] Milan, Italy: Franco Angeli Monaci, M G., Carbone, D., & Bonapace, W (2010) Le famiglie immigrate e i servizi sociali: Reti di sostegno formali e informali [Immigrant families and social services: Formal and informal support networks] Rivista di studi familiari, 1, 76–95 496 E VIOLA ET AL Pearce, N (2004) Diversity versus solidarity: A new progressive dilemma Renewal: A Journal of Labour Politics, 12, 79–87 Pugliese, E (2016) Migration flows in the mediterranean and the italian crossroad In G Cataldi (Ed.), A Mediterranean perspective on migrants’ flows in the European Union: Protection of rights, intercultural encounters and integration policies (pp 157–174) Naples, Italy: Editoriale Scientifica Rappaport, J (1987) Terms of empowerment/exemplars of prevention: Toward a theory for community psychology American Journal of Community Psychology, 15, 121–148 Rodwell, M K (1998) Social work constructivist research New York, NY: Garland Publishing Schwartz, S J., Unger, J B., Zamboanga, B L., & Szapocznik, J (2010) Rethinking the concept of acculturation: Implications for theory and research American Psychologist, 65, 237–251 doi:10.1037/a0019330 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] (2016) Refugees/migrants emergency response-mediterranean Retrieved from http://data.unhcr.org Ward, Jr, J H (1963) Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function Journal of The American Statistical Association, 58(301), 236–244 Wegmann, K M (2014) Shaping a new society: Immigration, integration, and schooling in Germany International Social Work, 57, 131–142 doi:10.1177/0020872812446980 Weng, S (2012) A comparative analysis of manual and computer constant comparison methods: Using data from a constructivist inquiry of experiences working with ethnic agencies Social Work and Society International Online Journal, 10, 1–10 World Health Organization [WHO] (2016) Migrant health in the European region Retrieved from http://www.euro who.int