Field reflections from training Finnish asylum officials

Evaluating asylum claims has been described as one of the most challenging forms of decision-making in the modern state. Recent research has highlighted concerns both with how asylum seekers are heard and how their accounts are assessed. Recently, we developed a novel training program in investigative interviewing and legal psychology for asylum officials in Finland. During the training, the officials reported several organizational constraints and everyday challenges that they face in their daily work of interviewing asylum seekers. These concerns can have a considerable negative effect on interview quality and the work-related stress experienced by officials, with potential negative effects on their work. This aspect has largely been unexplored in research until now. In this field reflection, we aim to describe the key challenges that we observed, and which were formulated by the practitioners, discuss them in relation to empirical research, and propose recommendations for future research and practice.