Hospital Social Work during COVID-19: Assessment and management of psychosocial risk during the pandemic
James Ready1, Greg Lewis11Social Work Department, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Abstract
Psychosocial assessments are a fundamental part of the hospital social work role and inform every clinical intervention. When COVID-19 struck in 2020, there was major uncertainty over how the pandemic would impact upon hospital social work services. Hospital social workers had to respond to patients who were affected not only by the virus itself but also by the impacts of public health containment and mitigation strategies. Psychosocial assessments needed to adapt and evolve to address how the pandemic exacerbated existing social risks.
This project explored implications for hospital social work psychosocial assessments during COVID-19. A literature review demonstrated considerable gaps in knowledge around psychosocial risk during a pandemic. Social work departments across Australia and overseas were contacted to gain diverse perspectives on how different hospitals addressed psychosocial risk. Gaining interstate and global perspectives provided more valuable information, as each state and country encountered their own unique challenges when responding to the pandemic. Significant parallels were identified despite these differing experiences that demonstrated the universal impact of the pandemic on psychosocial risk.
Core psychosocial issues that were identified for practice recommendations included domestic and family violence, elder abuse, child protection, financial stress and social isolation. A consensus approach was used to identify and articulate considerations for each psychosocial risk. Recommendations were then made for how to incorporate these into psychosocial assessments. This presentation will discuss the project evolution and provide a snapshot of the core recommendations developed from the process.
Biography
Biographies to come.