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Social work practice models have tended to assume the need for critical distance from their clients’ presenting problems in order to appraise them. The assumption that social workers are not themselves impacted by the same structural, political, and resource needs as clients has contributed to a lack of theory on social work practice from the margins—by and for historically oppressed and underrepresented communities. Despite the influence of postcolonial critiques, the problem is starkest in international social work, particularly with reference to Western NGOs in subaltern communities.
By contrast, clinical practice educators in Palestine are seeking to develop their own models for culturally and politically responsive interventions—in conversation with but also distinct from Western social work. A key factor to consider is that students tend to share with their clients the same ongoing traumatic exposures and experiences of community dislocation related to violence, housing instability, imprisonment of family members, lack of mobility, and disenfranchisement.
A team of Palestinian and U.S.-based researchers designed a study to examine clinical conceptualization of micro-level problems in Palestine and the role of social workers in addressing them.
Methods:
Following IRB approval, a convenience sample of 65 West Bank social work students were presented with two micro-level case vignettes in the context of a larger survey: a 27-year-old woman living in a refugee camp with two children presenting with confusion, and a 15-year-old boy whose mother recently died and who is a target of peer aggression. Participants were asked to identify presenting problems, psychosocial etiological conceptualizations, and goals for intervention. Responses were analyzed using a thematic analysis and compared with responses from the larger survey.
Findings:
The sample included female (n=40) and male (n=25) identified respondents. All participants were Palestinian and predominantly Muslim (n=64). The mean age was 22.9. Most students reported monthly family income below 3000 shekels ($900), which is lower than the GDP per capita in Palestine. Students reported commuting to campus from nearby cities (n=21), villages (n=42), and refugee camps (n=2).
In both cases, the most frequent themes in problem identification were 1. Fear, anxiety, and trauma, 2. Loneliness and isolation from community due to stigma and danger, and 3. Separation from family. For psychosocial conceptualizations, the most common themes were 1. Stigma toward women and children separated from families, 2. Lack of family support, 3. Lack of individual will to improve situation and reconnect with community, and 4. Lack of Education. For goals of intervention, the most common themes were 1. Reintegration with community and family, and 2. Acceptance of loss and trauma.
Conclusion and Implications:
Responses to both cases demonstrate an understanding of traumatic experience in dynamic relation to social disconnections. Lack of safety permeates spaces and social relations for both students and clients. In the larger survey, students reported similar personal experiences of trauma and erosion of community capacity. Palestinian social work provides an alternative to the framework of posttraumatic growth, emphasizing instead the need for community reconnection in the setting of continuing collective trauma.