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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20534/AJH-16-9.10-36-40
Kaledina Alina, Master in Social Psychology, Psychology Institute at the University of Sao Paulo
E-mail: ka0406@mail.ru Santos Alessandro de Oliveira, full professor, PhD in School Psychology and Human Development, Psychology Institute at the University of Sao Paulo
Practices of psychologists in immigrants' assistance centers: a study in Moscow (Russia) and Sao Paulo (Brazil)
Abstract: This article describes the particularities of psychological practice and education in the context of working with migrants in the two countries: Russia and Brazil. This descriptive qualitative study included visits to Immigrants' Assistance Centers and interviews with Psychologists. As a result, it was possible to make recommendations to institutions, which train psychologists, and to Immigrants' Assistance Centers.
Keywords: Practices of Psychologist; Immigrants' Assistance Centers; Immigration in Russia; Immigration in Brazil; Psychological work in Russia; Psychological work in Brazil; Qualitative research.
The term migration means the movement of Those studies, in general, focus on the situa-
people to another country for the permanent or tem- tion and phenomena faced by the immigrants, put-
porary residence. The term immigration refers to the ting less emphasis on the professionals who work
entrance of individuals from abroad in order to work providing services to this population. There are a
or/and live in a new country [14]. The migration is number of studies that really stand out for the role
being studied by various sciences, including the of social workers providing services to immigrants
Psychology. The psychological effects of migration [7; 8; 10].
on people who moved to a new country are: cross- In this study, we described the Psychologists'
cultural phenomena, maladjustment, and isolation roles in providing services to immigrants within
[2; 6; 5]. the following cities: Sao Paulo, Brazil and Moscow,
Russia. These two metropolises in the latest years have been hosting many immigrants.
In Russia, the first migration occurred in the XVIII century, when people moved to Siberia, due to the incentive of exploration of minerals resources in that region. Then, the new active migration started in 1992, after the collapse of The USSR. In the first decade of XXI century, Russia received 02 million immigrants. Within these immigrants, 8% to 10% are actually employed and most allocated in low-paid jobs [15]. Russia occupies the third position among the countries with the largest number of immigrants working illegally [13].
Brazil emerged as an immigrant country in the XVI century being. Until the XX century, due to the policies to attract labour and due to both World Wars, the country hosted immigrants from Europe and from Japan [9]. After the Second World War, migration was encouraged by the economic development of the rubber production, coffee, and industrialization of the country [4]. Currently in Brazil, there are a lot of immigrants from Latin American countries and Africa. According to the data for March of 2015, there were 1.8 million immigrants settled in Brazil, approximately 60 thousand of immigrants live illegally in the country [16].
In both countries, the majority of social services for immigrants are provided by non-profit organizations that are focusing on promotion of human rights, social insertion, reducing xenophobia and prevention ofhuman traffic and labour exploitation.
In Russia, there is no organization that certifies psychologists. Having a degree is enough to work as a psychologist in the country. The creation of a national certification system of psychologists is claimed by the Russian Psychological Society (RPS). In 2008, the RPS created a volunteer registration system that registered 17 thousand psychologists until May 2016 [11]. Obviously, it does not reflect the real number of psychologists currently work in the country. According to RPS, psychologists work in such sectors as Clinic Psychology, General Psychology, Educational Psychology, Social Psychology and others. The majority of professionals work exclusively in private clinics or hospitals, but also there are professionals that combine activities in clinics along with school or child development centers [11].
In Brazil, the organization that represents the professional class was created in 1972, named Federal Psychology Council (FPC). Its' goal is to guide, discipline and supervise the profession. In order to work as a psychologist in the country, besides the degree in psychology, it is also necessary to register the graduation in the Social Insurance Number (SSN) system. The total amount of psychologists registered was 274.945 until May 2016 [3]. It is possible to say that the areas in which the Brazilian psychologists work are similar to those in Russia. The majority of professionals work in more than one sector, for example, combining clinic work with research activity in university or other work [1].
Table 1. - Activities of the Immigrants Assistance Services (2016)
Activities Migrant's House (Sâo Paulo) Migrants Service center (Moscow)
Legal advice Legal advice Legal advice
Job integration Professional training courses Professional guidance and integration as interpreter
Accommodation Accommodation and meals —
Health support Health guidance Permanent doctor
Social integration Portuguese language course National parties celebrations Immigrants' free market Russian language course Children's support
Psychological Support Psychologists and Interns No psychologists nowadays This service was offered in the past
In Moscow, the author visited The Immigrants Assistance Center ("Civic Assistance Committee", in Russian is Комитет "Гражданское содействие") and in Brazil, it was The Migrant's House ("Casa do Migrante" which is a part of a church named "Missao Paz"). During the visits, it was possible to obtain information about the activities of these centers, the number and the of types of professionals.
The interviews with psychologists who work or worked in these services have been done in their native languages. To analyse the interviews we used a qualitative descriptive method. It was in total 3 psychologist in Moscow (one man and two women) and 4 in Sao Paulo (three men and one woman). The respondents' initials were selected to distinguish them.
Table 2. - Information about the respondents' profiles (2016)
Name Gender Country Age
K M Brazil 25
B F Brazil 57
P M Brazil 27
C M Brazil 30
N F Russia 32
D F Russia 27
S M Russia 32
We have divided the contents of each interview into several categories. Then we analysed the contents of each category separately. The study was approved by Brazilian Ethics Committee in Research with Human Beings.
Category 1: "Reasons for the migration and the immigrants' state". According to the respondents, the reasons for migration involve the search of jobs and better life conditions and escapes from armed conflicts and natural disasters. Most of the respondents believe that the majority of immigrants are in precarious conditions. This is due to the difficulty faced to acquire a j ob equivalent to their level of qualification and discrimination, mainly against black people and women.
Respondents N and S confirm that in Russia the majority of immigrants are now in low qualified jobs such as cleaner, waiter, porter. For C the immigrants in Russia expect to find "a better job", but they end up frustrated because they have to accept
low-paid jobs. K sees Brazil as an attractive place because its migration policy is "reasonably flexible", and "accessible". Although, according to him many immigrants are under exploitation situation referring to their jobs. B told that in Brazil the immigrants do work "which appears (...) regardless to qualification, degree or experience". C highlighted the problems which involve the regularization of their documents that allows them to find better jobs. According to him: "Only refugees manage to get the citizenship easier (...)". According to most of the Russian and Brazilian respondents, the primary psychological processes that immigrants face are cross-cultural impact of new culture and difficulties in adaptation to local values.
Category 2: "The Psychologists' role in the Immigrants' Assistance Centers". According to the respondents, the psychologists' role aims to help to immigrants overcome traumas, and, like C said, to help them to "create new relationships" and to adapt in the country.
For their work, Russian and Brazilian psychologists base on different theoretical approaches. Among the Russians there was no consistent theoretical framework, although all said that they use Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Most of the Brazilian respondents told that they use Psychoanalysis. They also said that during their studying the topic of "migration" has been studied insufficiently. The Russians had studied Ethnic Psychology. All respondents highlighted the relevance of the subject of approach called Cross-Cultural Psychology to their graduation and work with immigrants.
There was no agreement about the necessity to the Psychologists who work with representative of other cultures to have knowledge about these cultures, but the respondents who had the opportunity to visit or to live in other countries (D, B, K and C), affirmed that cultural aspects were important. N and D mentioned the importance of the cultural, gender and ethnic-racial aspects. As per N, religious traditions might create obstacles to the approach to immigrants. K and C emphasized cultural and linguistic barriers may complicate the work. Hence, the psychologist has to be creative. Also, B and D pointed out that sometimes immigrant identifies
the psychologist with a government representative, generating a suspicious attitude.
Category 3: "Gains obtained with the work with immigrants". All respondents confirmed that they received an experience beyond their offices and the conventional treatment. D emphasized that she got a new ability to look at problems from different points of view as well as more experience in dealing with linguistic and cultural barriers. P affirmed he learned a lot about "clinic" treating the immigrants and the experience helps in his private office.
Working with immigrants provided the opportunity to find new ways of dealing with the patient. Therefore this experience was rather significant in terms of acquiring new knowledge and a new way of treatment.
We can conclude that the presence of psychologists in Immigrants' Assistance Centers is essential. There are many immigrants, especially refugees, who came through difficult and traumatic situations in their countries. Moreover, the adaptation in an unknown environment with different language and culture may worsen the negative symptoms of these traumas and only psychologists are able to deal with it in an efficient way.
A limitation of the study is that the interviews have been done only with psychologists who work or who used to work with immigrants, so the conclusions are derived from reports of these professionals only.
Based on the study it was possible to state some recommendations for better services provided for immigrants, such as having bilingual professionals; creation of a team of psychologists; the hiring of specialized psychologists for children and families; the participation of immigrants in these services.
In the biggest universities of Moscow, there are classes on cross-cultural relationships as a part of the Psychology graduation course. However, there are no programs where the students can do internships to provide services for immigrants. In Brazil, the situation is the opposite. There are programs but few subjects explore the approaches dedicated to the culture and immigrants study (as Cross-Cultural Psychology, for example). All respondents confirmed that treating immigrants enhanced their professional experience. Therefore, internship in this sector can be considered an excellent training for professional practice.
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