Safe Spaces And The Use of Non-verbal Tools for Enabling Tough Conversations with Immigrant Women in Sweden

Sammanfattning: This study begins with an understanding that immigrant experiences are complex and encompass the change of many factors for the person who moves from one country to another. While existing integration efforts focus on the practical aspects and needs of immigrants, some experiences never get to be expressed and emotional needs remain unvocalized. This study focuses on the emotional needs of immigrant women and the design of an environment where these needs can be vocalized or expressed. In the study we conduct an analysis of the factors which help in establishing trust and rapport with and between immigrant women and investigate how non-verbal tools can be used in eliciting emotional needs and bridging differences in an intercultural setting. This study consists of two design workshops, where the main tool used is embroidery, and individual interviews with all the participants. Nine immigrant women in total were recruited for the study, where each of them comes from a different country. Results show that the most important factors in building trust with the facilitators were the informal communication style, gender, and the spatial layout where the workshops were conducted. Furthermore, the most important factor in eliciting reflections was the use of the autobiographical timeline tool. Finally, the act of creating the embroideries together and the smaller size of the groups proved to be very important in bridging cultural and other barriers between the participants.