Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Refugee Children’s Forced Repatriation: Social Workers' and Police Officers’ Health and Job Characteristics

Abstract

During the past ten years the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children has dramatically increased in Sweden. Some of them are permitted to stay in the receiving country, but some are forced back to their country of origin. Social workers and police officers are involved in these forced repatriations, and such complex situations may cause stressful working conditions. This study aimed to bridge the gap in knowledge of the relationship between general mental health and working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children who are due for forced repatriation. In addition, the role of psychosocial job characteristics in such relationships was investigated. A questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics, the Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire, and the 12-item General Mental Health Questionnaire were distributed nationally. Univariate and multivariable regression models were used. Poorer mental health was associated with working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children among social workers but not among police officers. Psychological job demand was a significant predictor for general mental health among social workers, while psychological job demand, decision latitude, and marital status were predictors among police officers. Findings are discussed with special regard to the context of social work and police professions in Sweden.

“This Isn’t Just about Things, It’s about People and Their Future”: A Qualitative Analysis of the Working Conditions and Strains of Social Workers in Refugee and Homeless Aid

“…The long-term psychological effects named were depressive states and symptoms of burnout. Previous studies had already described a high prevalence of mental illness and burnout among this professional group [21,45]. The prevalence of depression, however, was not significantly different to that of the general population [18].…”

Working conditions, mental health and coping of staff in social work with refugees and homeless individuals: A scoping review

“…Seven of these studies were conducted at agencies or service centres, one at non‐governmental organisations, one at reception centres, one examined participants of a training course and one included several settings. Three studies involved the same sample of social workers who served unaccompanied refugee children due for forced repatriation (Sundqvist, Ghazinour, & Padyab, ; Sundqvist et al, ; Sundqvist, Padyab, Hurtig, & Ghazinour, ). Some studies did not only include staff in social work, but also other occupational groups, such as administrative staff, nurses, directors or paraprofessionals.…”

“…Key findings from qualitative components of studies were coded to these categories using auxiliary qualitative software (MAXQDA version 11). For one study, additional information on findings were requested from the author (Sundqvist, Hansson, Ghazinour, Ogren, & Padyab, ).…”

Police Stress in the Swedish Context: Development and Psychometric Properties of the Police Stress Identification Questionnaire

“…Shift work, obesity, and exposure to hazardous work environments are possible explanatory factors for their elevated risk of death . In Swedish studies, high psychological job demands and low decision latitude at work were associated with poor mental health among police officers (Sundqvist, Hansson, Ghazinour, Ögren, & Padyab, 2015); the joint effect of high job strain and low levels of work-related social support were also associated with police officer's poor mental health (Hansson, Hurtig, Lauritz, & Padyab, 2016). The long-term effects of stress on police officers have been investigated by researchers in North America (Kohan & O'Connor, 2002;Paton, Violanti, & Schmuckler, 1999) where they found maladaptive and antisocial behaviours, such as drinking problems, hyper-aggressiveness, and violence, both on and off the job.…”