The Challenges Faced by Korean Social Workers at the Community Welfare Centres for People with Disabilities during COVID-19 Pandemic

Kim, Kyung Mee and Hwang, Se Kwang (2022) The Challenges Faced by Korean Social Workers at the Community Welfare Centres for People with Disabilities during COVID-19 Pandemic. The British Journal of Social Work, 52 (7). pp. 4089-4107. ISSN 0045-3102

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac012

Abstract

This study was intended to explore the experiences of social workers in Community Welfare Centres for People with Disabilities (CWCPDs) to understand their practices and challenges during COVID-19. It considered the essential role that CWCPD social workers play in responding to ‘new normal’ settings. Zoom interviews were conducted with twenty supervisory and manager-level social workers of CWCPDs nationwide. This study showed the unexpected cross-regional nature of risks and burdens. The high level of uncertainty and complexity allowed for the centres to operate safely under the COVID-19 legislation and for them to change and deliver alternative service provisions. Social workers had to develop new ways to deal with unprecedented risks, challenges, and dilemmas within ‘the new normal’. COVID-19 means that centres must recalibrate their relationships with service users, communities and the government. CWCPDs need to change their service provision model from a large group-centred to a person-centred model to meet individual demands. Changes are needed in terms of clarity of communication, the application of step-by-step guidelines to service provisions and a shift away from an exclusive focus on quantitative performance needs in how centres are evaluated. In all these processes, both close cooperation and support from local authorities are needed.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: COVID-19, social workers, social work practice, social workers’, role
Subjects: L400 Social Policy
L500 Social Work
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing
Depositing User: John Coen
Date Deposited: 11 Jan 2022 11:38
Last Modified: 03 Feb 2024 03:30
URI: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/48131

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