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The Impact of Political Conflict on Social Work: Experiences from Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine
Shulamit Ramon is professor of inter-professional health and social studies at Anglia Ruskin University. She has researched and published extensively new developments in mental health, as well as users’ involvement in research and education.
Jim Campbell is senior lecturer in social work at Queens University Belfast. His research interests include aspects of mental health social work, social policy and law, in addition to the impact of political conflict on social work practice in Northern Ireland.
Jane Lindsay is principal lecturer in social work at Kingston University, where she leads the post-graduate and post-qualifying programmes in social work. She has been undertaking a longitudinal evaluation of psycho-social education programmes provided by Beer Zeit University, Palestine, since 1997.
Patrick McCrystal is a research fellow at the Institute for Child Care Research, Queens University Belfast. His research interests include adolescent substance use, policy and practice initiatives in child care and education.
Naimeh Baidoun is special project leader at Beer Zeit University in Ramallah. She has led a number of public health, children welfare and mental health projects in the Palestinian Authority
Correspondence to Shulamit Ramon, Institute of Health and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK. E-mail: s.ramon{at}apu.ac.uk
This paper investigates the impact of violent political conflict on social workers and service users in three countries: Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine. Despite its significance for social work (and other helping professions), there is a dearth of research on the subject. The authors construct a research framework which encapsulates the complexity and ambiguity of the issues at stake and three parallel empirical studies, which follow this framework, are presented. The findings highlight the burden of working and living in a violent political conflict, not just for service users but also for social workers. Emotional stress, fear, competing national and religious identities, yet some indication of resilience, are key findings from these studies. A number of moral and professional dilemmas emerged across all three studies, often testing loyalty to universal social work values. Thus, some respondents at times found it difficult to deal with colleagues and service users who were perceived to be ‘the enemy’. These studies highlight the need to raise the consciousness of social workers, agencies and policies about such issues in a world which is increasingly afflicted by violent political conflict. Support, education and training for social workers which transcend national contexts and further international research in this important area are recommended.
Keywords: violent political conflict, social workers, service users, ethical dilemmas, international research
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