Social workers’ experiences in integrated health care during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The massive spread of the novel COVID-19 virus across the globe has been disruptive to all providers within integrated healthcare systems, including social workers. The literature on how the pandemic has impacted medical workers are emerging. The present article explored the experiences of social workers. A purposive sample of 40 social workers in integrated healthcare settings was interviewed from September to November 2020 prior to vaccine availability to learn about how they managed the earlier months of the pandemic. A constant comparison approach was used to analyze the data. Themes identified included: (1) how social workers felt about safety in their work environments; (2) what it was like for social workers to transition to remote work; (3) how the pandemic affected social workers’ workload and mental health; and (4) what were the preparedness issues and lessons learned. This study adds to the existing literature on provider experiences of the pandemic in integrated health care with social workers’ voices. This additional perspective may contribute to better preparedness of behavioral health services and taking care of social workers in future crises.