High stress, high demand and high pressure
Experiences of social work and human services agencies during Melbourne's Covid‐19 lockdowns
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11229232 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Betty Haralambous (0000-0002-3226-5084, RMIT University Melbourne Victoria Australia, corresponding author), Ronnie Egan (0000-0001-5213-1983, RMIT University Melbourne Victoria Australia), Patrick O’keeffe (0000-0002-8961-1726, RMIT University Melbourne Victoria Australia), Sobika Baskarathas (RMIT University Melbourne Victoria Australia), Emily Heales (RMIT University Melbourne Victoria Australia), Caroline Jerono (RMIT University Melbourne Victoria Australia), Scott Thompson (0000-0001-8871-4005, RMIT University Melbourne Victoria Australia), Scott M Thompson (0000-0002-8807-1430, RMIT University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 804-820 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Australian Journal of Social Issues (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0157-6321 • E-ISSN: 1839-4655 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/ajs4.325 |
| OpenAlex | W4394984996 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 42 |
The COVID‐19 pandemic has created major challenges globally. The social work and human services profession has been required to rapidly respond to policy and social changes. This research aimed to understand how the pandemic has affected social work and human services staff within Melbourne, Victoria. In this paper, we analyse the practice and policy implications of these responses, and outline learning for the human services sector. We draw on interviews with social work and human services practitioners, exploring their experiences during the pandemic, including social and economic impacts on service users and agencies, and organisational and practice changes. Participants highlight compliance requirements, digitalisation of services, loss of social connection for service users and service impacts. In addition, participants highlight how people from low socioeconomic backgrounds were immensely affected throughout COVID‐19 lockdowns. However, this research also identifies service benefits, resulting from the rapid adjustments made by agencies that need further exploration for future practice. This article highlights how, despite the challenges posed by COVID‐19, agencies and workers developed innovative responses to this crisis. Drawing on these insights can help to understand how such initiatives can be implemented in the future. This article contributes to knowledge about innovation in a time of crisis
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Business · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Engineering physics · High pressure · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Sociology · Stress (linguistics · Work (physics · Employment and Welfare Studies · Engineering · Homelessness and Social Issues · Medicine · Social Work Education and Practice · Internal Medicine · Virology
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| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |