Experiences of social workers working in boarding institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic

The word pandemic is used for large-scale epidemics with severe and deadly effects that infect large numbers of people in a short time. The COVID-19 epidemic, which emerged in China in 2019 and affected the whole world, has been described as a pandemic. Various measures have been taken to reduce the spread of the virus; mask, distance, hygiene, interruption of education, closure of borders, restriction of economic activities, etc. These measures have affected all areas of human life by causing economic, social and psychological consequences, and have made the inequalities and vulnerabilities in social life evident. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the disadvantaged groups in social life. Besides the risk of being exposed to the disease; women, the elderly and disabled individuals were also exposed to various risks that increased their vulnerability. Continuing to support vulnerable members of their community during this process, social workers have had to prioritize the roles and objectives of their profession according to the conditions created by the pandemic crisis, so that the social work could continue as a basic service during the restrictions. The general purpose of this study is to reveal the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of social services for disadvantaged groups (women, elderly and disabled individuals) based on the experiences of social workers who were working in boarding institutions during the pandemic. The research was designed with the qualitative research method. 13 social workers who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic in boarding institutions that provided social services for women, elderly and disabled individuals constituted the participants of this research. The data were collected using a semi-structured interview form and analyzed with the help of the MAXQDA 2022 program. As a result of the data obtained, three main themes were determined: COVID-19 Pandemic and Personal Experiences, Working Experience in the COVID-19 Pandemic and COVID-19 Pandemic and After: Experiences. Intense anxiety, fear and worry were emotions commonly experienced by the participants, and it was observed that psychological health and family/spouse/personal life were adversely affected. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, there have been changes in the functioning of boarding institutions, flexible working/remote working and a 15-day shift system were implemented. During this process, it was observed that other personnel working in the organization were also negatively affected. Due to the restrictions applied in boarding institutions, the client groups did not have a connection with the outside for a long time. Therefore, this situation also negatively affected the client groups. Social workers tried to realize their professional practices as much as possible. During this process, needs such as materials to be used for hygiene purposes in institutions, protective equipment for employees, information and guidance about the process and operation, and insufficient number of personnel were observed. In the light of these findings, it emerges that the boarding institutions are unprepared for the crisis situations that the pandemic may cause. It is concluded that during this process where individual efforts were effective; developing a plan against crisis situations such as pandemics, preparing other personnel working in boarding institutions for crisis situations with in-service training, improving the physical conditions of boarding institutions, meeting the support needs of social workers at micro-mezzo-macro levels will increase the quality of service delivery.