Paradoxes, contradictions, and dilemmas

Reflections on the contours of a pandemic and its implications for social work education

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21721640
AutoresKerry A Brydon (Mount Eliza Aged Care Assessment Service, Peninsula Health, Frankston, Australia), Francis Mcdermott (0000-0002-9362-1441, Monash University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen23
Número2
Páginas364-377
Fecha de publicación2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Social Work (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1468-0173 • E-ISSN: 1741-296X
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14680173221144441
PMID38603317
OpenAlexW4313590238
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas25

This is a reflective and theoretical article that discusses the impact of COVID-19 on social work practice. The pandemic, which made its presence felt globally from early 2020, continues to have ongoing and significant consequences for lives, livelihoods, public health, and personal freedoms. We argue that, while its specific contours are yet to be comprehensively researched, let alone the final outcomes understood, the pandemic has presented opportunities to develop new ways of thinking about social work and social work education. Findings: Through a discussion of relevant literature, including a recent work of fiction, we contend that social workers have been able to adapt, to some extent, to the pandemic but in reactive rather than proactive ways. The biopsychosocial and person-in-environment perspectives that characterize social work education, theory, and practice might be greatly enhanced by the introduction of complexity theory in terms of developing new thinking about the theoretical basis of social work, enabling new questions and new strategies to emerge to strengthen social work responses to the challenges posed by COVID-19. Applications: Arising from this theoretical article, there are many implications for introducing complexity theory within social work education programs. Complexity theory can provide a conceptual frame fit-for-purpose for social work pandemic and post-pandemic theory and practice

Biopsychosocial model · Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Livelihood · Pandemic · Political science · Public relations · Social science · Social theory · Sociology · Child Abuse and Trauma · Education Discipline and Inequality · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice