Efficacy in working with migrant families in child welfare services: influencing factors

ABSTRACT

The Child Welfare Services (CWS) practitioners’ cultural competence in service provision influences the practice and decision-making, and thus outcomes for migrant children and families. This study investigates social workers’ confidence in delivering culturally sensitive services in Norway and assesses the main influencing factors by examining the relationship between self-efficacy and personal and work-related resources. In this study, a Self-efficacy Scale was developed to assess professionals’ beliefs in their capability to work with migrant families. The scale was administered through a questionnaire to child welfare workers in Norway (N = 251), and the reliability of the scale measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .904. The data were analysed using univariate statistics, correlations, and multiple regressions. The study shows that practitioners’ level of efficacy in working with migrant families is high. Experience, training, and access to services with cultural expertise were the main contributing factors to confidence in delivering culturally sensitive services in CWS. The findings add to an emerging body of research exploring welfare services providers’ efficacy in service provision and highlight the need for recognising professional experience and training needs as well as developing and strengthening collaboration with culturally sensitive services in advancing the cultural competence within CWS’ practice.

ABSTRAKT

Ansatte i barnevernet utøver en type kulturell kompetanse som har implikasjoner for deres praksis og deres beslutninger, og som får betydning for migrantbarn og deres familier. Denne studien undersøker barnevernsarbeideres opplevelse av egen mestring for å kunne utøve kultursensitive tjenester i Norge; og vurderer de viktigste påvirkningsfaktorene mellom mestringfølelse og personlige og arbeidsrelaterte ressurser. Jeg utviklet en skala for opplevelse av mestringskompetanse for å kunne arbeide med migrantfamilier. Skalaen gjorde bruk av et spørreskjema som jeg hadde laget for barnevernsansatte i Norge (N = 251), og reliabiliteten til skalaen ble målt med Cronbachs alfa som har koeffisient på .904. Dataene ble analysert med univariate metoder samt korrelasjon og multippel regresjon. Resultatene viser at barnevernsarbeidernes opplevelse av egen mestring i arbeidet med migrantfamilier er høy. Erfaring, opplæring og tilgang til tjenester med kulturell kompetanse var de viktigste faktorene for å oppnå mestringstro på å kunne gi kultursensitive tjenester i barnevernet. Studien bidrar til å utvikle en gryende forskning om profesjonelle utøveres opplevelse av mestring i tjenesteyting og den viser betydningen av yrkeserfaring og behovene for spesialisert opplæring for å kunne utvikle kultursensitive tjenester og for å fremme den kulturelle kompetansen innenfor barnevernets praksis.

KEYWORDS:

• Child welfare services
• cultural competence
• self-efficacy
• migrant families
• resources

NØKKELORD:

• barneverntjenester
• kulturell kompetanse
• mestringstro
• migrantfamilier
• ressurser

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of Agder.

Notes on contributors

Justyna Mroczkowska

Justyna Mroczkowska is a PhD candidate in sociology and social work, her research interests include profession of social work and professional development needs, migrant families’ involvement with CWS and child protection. Her background in social work in child protection, fostering and adoption teams was a start up point and inspiration into research in the field.