Social Workers’ Attempts to Navigate Among the Elderly, Their Families, and Foreign Home Care Workers in the Haredi Community

By: Freund A., Band-Winterstein T.
Published in: Journal of Applied Gerontology
SDGs : SDG 03  |  Units: Social Welfare & Health Sciences  | Time: 2019 |  Link
Description: Background: The study’s aim is to examine social workers’ experience in facilitating the integration of foreign home car e workers (FHCWs) into the ultraorthodox Jewish (UOJ) community for the purpose of treating older adults. Method: Using the qualitative-phenomenological approach, semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 social workers in daily contact with UOJ older adult clients in the process of integrating FHCWs. Results: Data analysis revealed three central themes—integrating FHCWs into the aging UOJ family: barriers and challenges in the interaction between the two worlds; “even the rabbi has a FHCW”: changing trends in caring for older adults; and the social worker as mediator and facilitator of a successful relationship. Discussion: Social workers play a central role, serving as a cultural bridge in the process of integrating FHCWs, as a way of addressing the needs of ultraorthodox elderly and their families, while also considering the needs of the foreign workers. © The Author(s) 2017.