| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 社會工作學研究所 === 102 === Since the 1990s, Southeastern Asian immigrants have gradually migrated to Taiwan and topics relevant to new immigrants have been the focus of social mainstream discussions and academic literature. In response to the increasing number of new immigrants, county and city governments across Taiwan have established foreign spouse (alternatively new immigrant or new resident) family service centers. In social work areas related to new immigrants, various direct service work methods and models have been explored to satisfy the diverse needs of new immigrants and their families. A portion of new immigrant women have become service providers in these new immigrant family service centers. This study investigated the process by which new immigrant Vietnamese female became service providers for new immigrants, from the perspective of their role of service providers.
The study participants were new immigrants Vietnamese female who were employed full time at a new immigrant family service center. Using in-depth interviews, we collected data by interviewing 5 new immigrant Vietnamese female workers, 3 supervisors at the service center, and 2 social workers. The results exhibited the participants’ empirical experiences in providing services for new immigrants, including the methods they used to obtain employment at the center, their motivations for working in the center, work content, demands, work advantages, work difficulties, and coping strategies. This study also explored participant and service center expectations regarding systems related to new immigrant workers and the provided services.
The results indicated that the participants obtained their jobs primarily by introductions through their families or friends and direct recruitment and employment by the center supervisor. The work content of the participants was similar to that of social workers; however, the translation and interpretation services, cultural promotions, and native language lessons provided by the participants were services that Taiwanese social workers could not provide. The participant work advantages involved their language abilities, cultural knowledge, immigration experiences, and knowledge of information regarding their native country (i.e., Vietnam). The difficulties the participants encountered during work included inadequate professional knowledge of social work, personal factors, and organizational factors . The results showed that participants taking part in the in-service education training provided by the organization and independent learning during the work processes facilitated teamwork, improvement of work performance, and enhancement of service quality.
Based on the study results, we proposed suggestions for future practical applications and research directions. The results can enhance public understanding of and attention to new immigrant family service centers and the new immigrants who are willing to provide services for other new immigrants. Furthermore, the results can serve as a reference for the promotion of new immigrant work and for relevant research.
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