47
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Cambodian American social services providers in pursuit of social justice for the well-being of the Cambodian American community members

, &
Pages 50-67 | Published online: 18 Feb 2024
 

ABSTRACT

Since the Khmer Rouge genocide in the late 1970s and the subsequent mass relocation of Cambodian refugees to the United States, the Cambodian community has struggled to achieve social justice and economic parity. Some challenges can be attributed to barriers of accessing care such as cultural and linguistic appropriateness of available services. Given these barriers, social services providers within the Cambodian American community have used various strategies to meet the needs in an effort to promote social justice.

In this qualitative study, purposive sampling was used to conduct 20 semi-structured interviews with Cambodian American social services providers who work for ethnic agencies serving the Cambodian community. Data analysis followed the constant comparative method.

Findings show that Cambodian providers foster social justice by: 1) promoting social responsibility to serve the community; 2) advancing cultural capital, cultivating Cambodian culture, and remembering history for future generations; and 3) creating social networks which serve as protective barriers from social isolation.

Not all communities within the United States have the resources to develop ethnic specific services. Therefore, mainstream social workers must advocate and promote greater accessibility of culturally informed services that foster a level of care and understanding to work with Cambodian Americans.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the social services providers in the Cambodian community for sharing their experiences with us. We also want to thank Roderick De Los Reyes for consulting on this project.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Data available on request due to privacy/ethical restrictions.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 253.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.