Social Workers' Mental Health in times of disaster: Lessons from the COVID19 Pandemic
1
Faculty of Health Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):A2557
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
During the Covid-19 pandemic, social workers were designated frontline responders supporting service users and guiding them towards achieving psychosocial well-being amidst unprecedented levels of illness, death, and social disruption. They navigated evolving service delivery models while dealing with the same tumultuous emotions and shared risks. ¹ Furthermore, social workers experienced COVID-19 as collective trauma rather than a mere occupational stressor.² Beyond the pandemic, disaster and crisis studies indicate social workers experience shared and vicarious trauma due to intersecting roles as helping professionals and affected community members, personally experiencing loss, insecurity, and distress.³ Furthermore, social workers with personal trauma histories are susceptible to a reactivation of trauma when operating in trauma-driven disaster and crisis environments.⁴ Southern African studies highlight how escalated workloads, structural impediments, lacking resources, and inadequate crisis management training undermine effective interventions and impact social workers’ mental health.⁵˒⁶
METHODS:
This paper adopts both a critical review approach, critically appraising peer-reviewed literature on social workers’ mental health and professional functioning in disaster and crisis contexts as well as reporting on empirical data collected from a sample group of social workers and social work managers who offered interventions to families and communities during Covid 19 period and beyond. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with social workers and two focus group interviews with social work managers.
RESULTS:
The paper will demonstrate that exposure to collective and personal trauma, increased workloads, deficient resources, and inadequate training are instrumental in frontline social work in times of disaster and crisis, with significant implications for professional functioning and mental health.
CONCLUSIONS:
This paper explores how disaster and crisis environments influence social workers’ mental health and professional functioning, highlighting the implications of collective and personal traumas, while interrogating the impact of operational and structural conditions on frontline social workers in times of disaster and crisis.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, social workers were designated frontline responders supporting service users and guiding them towards achieving psychosocial well-being amidst unprecedented levels of illness, death, and social disruption. They navigated evolving service delivery models while dealing with the same tumultuous emotions and shared risks. ¹ Furthermore, social workers experienced COVID-19 as collective trauma rather than a mere occupational stressor.² Beyond the pandemic, disaster and crisis studies indicate social workers experience shared and vicarious trauma due to intersecting roles as helping professionals and affected community members, personally experiencing loss, insecurity, and distress.³ Furthermore, social workers with personal trauma histories are susceptible to a reactivation of trauma when operating in trauma-driven disaster and crisis environments.⁴ Southern African studies highlight how escalated workloads, structural impediments, lacking resources, and inadequate crisis management training undermine effective interventions and impact social workers’ mental health.⁵˒⁶
METHODS:
This paper adopts both a critical review approach, critically appraising peer-reviewed literature on social workers’ mental health and professional functioning in disaster and crisis contexts as well as reporting on empirical data collected from a sample group of social workers and social work managers who offered interventions to families and communities during Covid 19 period and beyond. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with social workers and two focus group interviews with social work managers.
RESULTS:
The paper will demonstrate that exposure to collective and personal trauma, increased workloads, deficient resources, and inadequate training are instrumental in frontline social work in times of disaster and crisis, with significant implications for professional functioning and mental health.
CONCLUSIONS:
This paper explores how disaster and crisis environments influence social workers’ mental health and professional functioning, highlighting the implications of collective and personal traumas, while interrogating the impact of operational and structural conditions on frontline social workers in times of disaster and crisis.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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