What did Chinese Social Workers Do at the Worst Moment? ——A Research Based on Social Workers’ Participation in the Ffight against COVID-19 at Guangzhou

Abstract

ABSTRACT The prevention and control of COVID-19 was the first time that Chinese professional social workers formally demonstrated their unique ability and role in public health emergencies. To explore the contribution of Chinese social workers in fighting against COVID-19, this study has surveyed the practical experience of 179 Chinese social workers who participated in public health emergencies for the first time. According to the findings of the investigation, the prevention and control from social workers were active and timely. As a professional group, social workers have played many roles in the pandemic which further helped form coupling effects with other professional departments and build a solid pandemic prevention network. In this process, social workers have retrieved their sociality by taking root in the grass-roots units to build social support networks, link resources and help the vulnerable groups. Meanwhile, social workers still worked based on the national conditions of China’s statism and collectivism. They have taken on the roles of coadjutant and propagandist as well as embedded their work in the discourse system with Chinese characteristics when completing the work of policy propaganda, national and social mobilization, and ideological construction. Besides discussing the above content, this exploratory study also points out some difficulties in the aspects of policy support and the practice of China’s social work in public health emergencies.