ABSTRACT

For social work practitioners in healthcare settings, self-care can be an integral tool to assuaging stressors associated with COVID-19. However, research that examines the impact of public health crises, such as COVID-19, is nominal, at best. This exploratory study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on the self-care practices of self-identified healthcare social workers (N = 2,460) in one southeastern state. Primary data were collected via an electronic survey and assessed via a retrospective pre/post design. Analyses compared practices before and after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Overall, data suggest that participants experienced significant pre/post decreases in self-care practices across multiple domains. As well, findings indicate that participants who identified as married, financially stable, and working non-remotely, and in good physical/mental health engaged in significantly more self-care practices than other participants, at post. This study underscores the need to foster supportive professional cultures that include developing self-care practice skills, particularly during large-scale crisis, such as COVID-19.

摘要

对于医疗机构中的社会工作从业者，自我护理可以是缓解与COVID-19相关的压力源的不可或缺的工具。但是，研究诸如COVID-19之类的公共卫生危机的影响的研究充其量不过是名义上的。这项探索性研究调查了COVID-19对东南部一个州自我识别的医务社会工作者（N = 2,460）的自我护理行为的影响。通过电子调查收集主要数据，并通过回顾性的前/后设计进行评估。分析COVID-19被宣布为大流行前后的比较做法。总体而言，数据表明，参与者在多个领域的自我护理实践中经历了明显的事前/事后下降。同样，调查结果表明，已婚，财务稳定且非远程工作的参与者，并且在身体/心理健康方面，在岗后从事自我保健的人数要比其他参与者多得多。这项研究强调需要培养支持性的专业文化，包括发展自我护理实践技能，特别是在大规模危机期间，例如COVID-19。