Resilience and the impact of the pandemic on health social work practice.

Resilience and the impact of the pandemic on health social work practice.

Sarah Connolly^1,2, Lynette Joubert², Ralpm Hampson², Lisa Braddy⁶, Alison Hocking³, Fiona Creaven⁴, Catherine Ludbrook⁵, Nicola Watt<sup>1

1</sup>Royal Children’s Hospital Social Work Department, Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
²University of Melbourne School of Social Work, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
³The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
⁴The Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
⁵Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
⁶St. Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

Abstract

The 5+1 : A Social Work Practice Research Collaboration, Melbourne, Australia

Resilience and the impact of the pandemic on health social work practice

The overall purpose of the study was to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health social workers, addressing both opportunities, and challenges and the changes to social work practice. The research was undertaken in two phases.

Phase 1
Phase 1 involved extracting and identifying themes within the data gathered by means of a digital platform Basecamp designed to assist employees in organisations to communicate online. The Basecamp digital platform was provided across the five hospitals enabling social workers to capture their experiences, challenges and peer support in ‘real time’.

Phase 2
Phase 2 consisted of in- depth interviews with health social workers and social work managers, to further expand on the themed findings from the analysis of the Basecamp data. These interviews were subsequently transcribed and analysed using NVivo to identify key themes.

The findings from both phases were consolidated to provide a picture of the overall impact of the pandemic and allow collaborative discussion and formulation of recommendations for continuing social work practice.

Discussion and impact
Thematic analysis of the data identified five key areas that impacted on social work practice. These areas were: communication, social distancing , ‘work and home’ merging of practice, skills in brief frontline social work Interventions, and the use of online technology.
The results have impacted on health social work practice in the precinct, including recommendations for including virtual communication in the forefront of practice with services users and their families.

Biography

Sarah Connolly has been Manager of Social Work at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital since 2014 and more recently assumed role of Director Allied Health. Sarah holds post graduate Masters in Social Work and Human Services Management and is an Honorary Clinical Fellow at the University of Melbourne School of Social Work and Department of Paediatrics. Sarah has particular interests in health outcomes for vulnerable children and families as well as staff support and workforce development. The 5+1 represents a collaboration between 5 hospitals and a leading university to strengthen the excellence of research and clinical practice in health social work.