Communication between Syrian refugees and Swedish governmental agencies

Abstract

The Syrian war that began in 2011 has led to a refugee crisis which has caused an influx of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in many European countries, including Sweden. Swedish authorities have accepted thousands of Syrian refugees leading to intercultural communication between Syrian refugees and the employees they meet from different Swedish governmental agencies that are helping them resettle. The study aims at reaching out to both sides to understand and assess the information transfer, and the content of information communicated to Syrian refugees that is helping them resettle, and subsequently integrate. Qualitative date was collected through sixteen in-depth interviews with Syrian refugees and Swedish employees, giving an insight to their experiences, opinions, and evaluations. Analysis of the data was done using a hypothetical deductive approach to discuss several themes identified in the results in reference to the theories presented in the study. The results of the study show that Syrian refugees are responsive and understand the information they receive from Swedish agencies, but reveal that there are several problems regarding the content of information they are receiving. The study also presents the information that Swedish employees believe will help facilitate the integration of Syrian refugees into Swedish society.