Resilience and Adaptability in Social Work Practice Under Crisis

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis starkly highlighted the adaptation for human survival at individual, organizational, community and social levels. An important dimension is the resilience that comes from dealing with situations that arise and returning to a normal situation once again. The purpose of this article aims to study the resilience adaptability in social work practice under the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with 16 social workers. Data was analyzed by content analysis, interpretation and inductive analysis. It was found that the performance of social workers' roles and responsibilities under the challenges of the pandemic crisis required work within the scope of government disease control measures, stress conditions, risk of infection, expectations of service recipients, agencies and society towards the social workers providing assistance. These factors push social workers to become resilient and to change their behaviors, feelings, beliefs, and environments to the corresponding changing situations, as well as seek new methods of working, finding solutions by relying on advanced technology, relying on operation networks, adjusting operational strategies to solve problems, and seeking social support and guidelines to create resilience in responding to current and future crises. Findings show that social workers should practice controlling their body, mind, and consciousness in dealing with different situations. Defining guidelines to create resilience requires a long-term plan in order to learn lessons, establish knowledge from past experiences, and to strengthen communities and all sectors as a base for helping each other. At the same time, government sectors should be aware of participatory governance, resource distribution, and building social protection programs that cover all citizens, especially vulnerable groups.