Abstract
Social work during the COVID-19 crisis has faced one of the most challenging times to cover urgent social needs in an uncertain scenario. This study analyzes the immediate responses in social work to vulnerable groups in the first 15 days of the pandemic in Barcelona, one of the most affected areas worldwide by COVID-19. The sample for this qualitative study includes 23 semi-structured interviews with social workers from different fields of intervention, from general approaches (primary care) to specific ones (health, ageing, homeless, and justice). The data analysis followed the communicative methodology, including transformative and exclusionary dimensions, and the analytical categories focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social services users, the organizational responses of social workers, and the impact of the interventions to cover urgent social needs of attendees. The interventions have been accompanied by an improvement in communication channels with vulnerable groups, ensuring an understanding of the situation of families and individuals, and covering the most urgent social needs. The study shows the key role of social workers from diverse social attention tools and their contribution to the sustainability of social services with a long-term impact.
Highlights
Social work has played a crucial role during the COVID-19 crisis, covering the most urgent social needs of vulnerable groups, such as the homeless or elderly people
Research has been focused on health professionals, and less is known about social workers in the frontline, including those working in public health institutions
The selected analytical categories “impact of COVID-19 pandemic in social service users”, “organizational responses of social workers” and “impact of the interventions to cover urgent social needs of attended people” provide an accurate and precise overview of how social work has responded to COVID-19 crisis, providing the cover of urgent social needs
Summary
Social work has played a crucial role during the COVID-19 crisis, covering the most urgent social needs of vulnerable groups, such as the homeless or elderly people. Research has been focused on health professionals, and less is known about social workers in the frontline, including those working in public health institutions. In line with scientific evidence, international and national health organizations report that vulnerable, moderate, and high-risk groups are people with health conditions that affect their immune system or older people [1,2,3]. In addition to older or comorbid people, researchers highlight the relevance to understand the social determinants of health to fight pandemic and the social dynamics of COVID-19 [6]
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