Public Services Employees’ Attitudes towards Roma in Greece: The Need for a Social Work Response

Abstract

Public Services Employees’ Attitudes towards Roma in Greece: The Need for a Social Work Response Charis Asimopoulos PhD, Sofia Martinaki MSc, PhD, Eleni Kontogianni MA, Despoina Kompoti MA, PhD candidate Abstract Health, education and municipal public services employees were surveyed to assess their attitudes towards the Roma people in Greece, in terms of their occupation and sociodemographic characteristics. The research sample included a total of 582 professionals of different public services (217 healthcare staff members, 248 teachers and 117 municipal employees). They completed a self-report questionnaire including sociodemographic data and a 43-item Questionnaire on Attitudes towards Roma. Results from analyses showed that an important part of the public services employees, with whom Roma come into direct contact when accessing healthcare, educational, as well as civil and municipal services, tend to exhibit negative attitudes and fear, intergroup anxiety and to hold negative stereotypes towards Roma. Also, they showed that the levels of prejudice are statistically significantly different with respect to occupational and sociodemographic factors. In particular, they differ in terms of occupation, level of education, living in areas with high Roma density, parenthood, age and years of professional experience. Implications for systematic interventions to change the public services employees’ negative attitudes towards Roma are discussed. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jssw.v7n2a11