The challenges of professional workers on a Centre of Social Work in the time of coronavirus epidemic

V okviru diplomskega dela raziskujem izzive, s katerimi so se pri opravljanju svojega dela v času epidemije koronavirusa srečevale strokovne delavke na izbranem večjem centru za socialno delo v Sloveniji, ki se nahaja v mestnem okolju. Zanimali so me tudi načini reševanja izzivov, primeri dobrih praks odzivov strokovnih delavk na stiske uporabnikov in zagotavljanje ustreznih delovnih pogojev med epidemijo na izbranem centru za socialno delo. V teoretičnem delu diplomskega dela predstavim delovanje centrov za socialno delo, bolezen covid-19 in ukrepe za zajezitev širjenja okužb, ki so pomembno vplivali na delovanje sistema socialnega varstva. Opišem tudi socialno delo v izrednih razmerah in ugotovitve raziskav o izzivih socialnega dela med epidemijo covida-19 v svetu. V empiričnem delu predstavim rezultate svoje raziskave, ki sem jih pridobila z analizo intervjujev, opravljenih s šestimi strokovnimi delavkami iz različnih delovnih področij izbranega centra za socialno delo. Strokovne delavke so pri opravljanju svojega dela v času epidemije uporabljale zaščitno opremo, vzdrževale medsebojno fizično razdaljo, redno prezračevale pisarne in razkuževale delovne površine. Z uporabniki in sodelavci so predvsem v času prvega vala epidemije prednostno komunicirale preko telefona ali elektronske pošte. Rezultati raziskave razkrivajo izzive zagotavljanja varnih prostorov in zaščite za opravljanje dela, povečanega obsega dela, prikrajšanosti za osebno komunikacijo ter usklajevanja dela in zasebnega življenja. Kot dobra praksa se je izkazalo naročanje uporabnikov na osebne pogovore, uspešna pa je bila tudi komunikacija s predstavniki različnih institucij preko video-klicev. Medtem, ko so bile nekatere strokovne delavke na izbranem centru za socialno delo zadovoljne z odzivnostjo in podporo vodstva, so druge pri vodstvu naletele na neodzivnost ter pomanjkanje podpore. Sodelujoče v raziskavi so poročale o poslabšanju svojega duševnega zdravja, pri čemer so občutile večjo razdražljivost, stres in obremenitve pri opravljanju dela med epidemijo. Poudarjam, da si mora vodstvo na centru za socialno delo v času izrednih razmer še bolj prizadevati za nemoten dostop ljudi do njihovih storitev in večjo zastopanost v širši javnosti. Pri delu v izrednih razmerah je za strokovne delavke še posebej pomembno zagotoviti več podpore s strani vodstva v obliki rednih kolegijev celotnega kolektiva, psihosocialne pomoči in supervizije za vsa področja dela.In my graduation thesis, I research the challenges faced by professional workers on a Centre of Social Work in a large town in Slovenia during the time of coronavirus epidemic. I was interested in the manners of solving those challenges, examples of good practices in the responses of professional workers to users distress and the provision of good working conditions at the selected Centre of Social Work during the epidemic. In the theoretical part of the thesis, I present the service of the Centres of Social Work, disease covid-19 and measures to curb the expansion of the infection, which affected the service of the social protection system. Then I describe social work in emergencies and the findings of a research on the social work challenges during the covid-19 epidemic in different parts of the world. In the empirical part, I present the results of the interviews I had with six professional workers who work in different work fields of the selected Centre of Social Work. During their work in the time of epidemic, they used protective equipment, maintained a physical distance from each other, regularly ventilated their offices and disinfected work surfaces. Professional workers primarily communicated with users and co-workers by telephone or e-mail, especially during the first wave of epidemic. The results of the research revealed the challenges of providing safe spaces and protection for working, increased workload, the lack of personal communication and coordination of work and private life. Subscribing users to personal conversations and communication with representatives of various institutions via video calls has been shown to be a good practice. While some professional workers of the selected Centre of Social Work were satisfied with the responsiveness and support of the management, others encountered unresponsiveness and a lack of support. Study participants reported a deterioration in their mental health, feeling more irritability, stress, and burden when working during an epidemic. In a state of emergency the management of the Centre of Social Work must strive for ensuring uninterrupted access to services for people and greater representation of their work in the general public. When working in emergency situations, professional workers need to be provided with more support from the management in the form of regular meetings of the entire collection, psychosocial assistance and supervision for all work fields of the Centre of Social Work