Silent warriors : experiences of local social social workers on public service during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the local social workers in the Philippines, prompting the researchers to conduct a study that aims to learn the lived experiences of local social workers as they provide public service on the frontlines despite the risk of acquiring COVID-19. The researchers gathered data through the response of the informants to four research questions attending to the experiences – current status, unheard struggles, coping strategies, and insights of local social workers while serving the people throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The seven Registered Social Workers, ages 18-60 years old, who have been working for at least three years in local social welfare and development offices within Mindanao, were interviewed using a qualitative phenomenological method through one-on-one interviews. The themes and core ideas in this research were identified using thematic analysis. The themes were current situations of local social workers, challenges of local social workers, coping methods of local social workers, and insights of local social workers. Each of these themes has core ideas identified around the experiences of local social workers. This study shed light on the problem faced by the local social workers who work on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic that working on the frontline during a pandemic is difficult. Local Social Workers had to deal with inevitable limitations due to the protocols, unavoidable apprehensions about the safety of self and family, continuity in dealing with the client's various needs, and overwhelming work demands. Enabling the government to understand the current situation, challenges in providing services, coping strategies to continue providing social services to the public, and the insights of the local social workers, which can help the government with the participation of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, in implementing working arrangements that enable safety, effectiveness, and well-being at various points throughout the pandemic, along with strengthening emergency planning procedures with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and proactively addressing practitioner service quality and risk concerns.