Teaching Clinical Social Work Under Occupation: Listening to the Voices of Palestinian Social Work Students |
| |
| Authors: | Efrosini Kokaliari Joan Berzoff David S Byers Anan Fareed Jake Berzoff-Cohen Khalid Hreish |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Graduate School of Social Work, Springfield College, Springfield, Massachusetts, USAekokaliari@springfieldcollege.edu;3. School for Social Work, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, USA;4. Social Work Department, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine;5. People Acting Together in Howard (PATH), Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | The authors were invited to teach clinical social work in the Palestinian West Bank. In order to teach, we designed a study exploring how 65 Palestinian social work students described the psychological and social effects of working under occupation. Students described social stressors of poverty, unemployment, lack of infrastructure, violence, imprisonment, separation of families, and severe constraints on travel. They identified depression, suicide, anxiety, and war-related trauma as emerging from these conditions. Many experienced the same psychosocial problems as their clients in coping with harassment and delays at checkpoints. Implications for teaching social work theory and practice are discussed. |
| |
| Keywords: | Occupation pedagogy teaching trauma |
|
|
