Social Work Professionals Functioning during the Coronavirus

Pandemic: Occupational Risks and their Socio-psychological

Consequences

E. V. Krivtsova

, T. N. Martynova

and O. V. Valko

Department of Sociological Sciences, Kemerovo State University, Krasnaya St., Kemerovo, Russian Federation

Institute of Philology, Foreign Languages and Mediacommunications, Kemerovo State University,

Krasnaya St., Kemerovo, Russian Federation

Keywords: Social Work Professional’s Activities, Occupational Risk, Coronavirus Pandemic.

Abstract: At the present stage of social development, human activities are increasingly described in categories of

occupational risk. The problem of occupational risks in workers' (professionals') activities, the social and

psychological consequences of risks are increasingly looked into scientifically. Researchers focus on

analysing the ways the external and internal (personal) factors affect the occurrence of occupational risks in

the professionals’ activities. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, this issue has gained particular

importance due to the socio-psychological consequences it entails for service users and social workers,

employees of social protection departments.

1 INTRODUCTION

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected

all countries and regions of the world to a greater or

lesser extent. The spread of the coronavirus pandemic

is characterized not only by its negative medical and

demographic consequences, but also has social and

psychological consequences for the entire population.

With the spread of the pandemic, the role of the

social protection system has increased considerably.

The International Labor Organization (ILO)

emphasizes in its analytical materials for 2020 that

the negative consequences of the coronavirus

pandemic can be mitigated by strengthening the

social protection system in all countries. Currently,

126 countries, including Russia, have implemented

and adapted social protection programs or policies

proceeding responsive to COVID-19.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to

spread, socially vulnerable segments of the Russian

population are increasing in numbers, wanting not

only medical, but also social assistance.

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In this regard, the role of personnel rendering

social services and assistance has significantly

increased – social work professionals, social workers,

as well as volunteers who assist socially vulnerable

groups of the population in the face of the COVID-19

pandemic (Amadasun, 2020).

During the coronavirus pandemic, elderly

disabled people, persons with disabilities are

especially at risk; children at risk include

unsupervised minors and those living in socially

disadvantaged families; people living in residential

boarding institutions of social services (boarding

homes for the elderly and disabled, psycho-

neurological boarding schools, etc.); maladjusted

adults (persons in crisis centers, centers of social

adaptation), etc. are also exposed (Heather, 2020).

Representatives of vulnerable groups of the

population are subject to an objectively greater risk of

contracting the coronavirus infection compared to

other groups of the population, but at the same time

they have much less opportunity to successfully cope

with the current life situation. Compared to other

groups of the population, vulnerable categories more

Krivtsova, E., Martynova, T. and Valko, O.

Social Work Professionals Functioning during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Occupational Risks and their Socio-psychological Consequences.

DOI: 10.5220/0011120400003439

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference "COVID-19: Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals" (RTCOV 2021), pages 345-350

ISBN: 978-989-758-617-0

345

often face problems accessing social and medical

services, information, which results in increased

social exclusion. In addition, they suffer social

stigma, which manifests itself in bias, discrimination

and segregation resultant from the risks (actual and

perceived) of spreading coronavirus infection

(Martinez, 2020).

The spread of the coronavirus pandemic in Russia

requires an analysis of workers’ activities under the

prevailing conditions, including the occupational

activities of social work professionals (Devlieghere

and Roose, 2020).

Occupational activity in the context of the

coronavirus pandemic can be considered as

functioning in an emergency. When analyzing the

emergency phenomenon, researchers focus on the

following aspects: an individual as a subject in an

emergency (L. I. Antsiferova, B. S. Bratus, V. I.

Lebedev, G. Yu. Fomenko and others); socio-

psychological determinations of an emergency

affecting an individual (L. D. Pravdina, O. S.

Shiryaeva); impacts of psychogenic factors on an

individual under emergency conditions and effects of

emergency on a person’s professional activity (M. Sh.

Magomed-Eminov), etc. In particular, looking into

the phenomenon of emergency, M. Sh. Magomed-

Eminov argues that extreme conditions stand for

specific, modified conditions and factors imposing

higher or ultimate requirements for the individual’s

occupational activity; stressors worsening a person’s

performance, undermining health, causing post-

traumatic reactions and disorders (Magomed-

Eminov, 2010).

In their performance, social work professionals

are involved in long-term intense communication

with people experiencing disadvantage and stress,

which often leads to physical and mental exhaustion

and poses the occupational risks.

To date, a reliable evidence base has been

accumulated confirming that performance with

increased labor intensity, necessity to rapidly adapt

professionally due to the COVID-19 pandemic,

responsibility to resolve the vital problems of social

service recipients adversely affect the health and

occupational activities of social work professionals.

In particular, this is further aggravated by information

overload (Malik and Melkaya, 2018), time restricted

for every recipient of social services, professional

responsibility for the life and health of recipients of

social services (Fink, 2019), prolonged mental stress

caused by difficult working conditions and a high

level of professional stress (Solomonidou and

Katsounari, 2020) that leads to burnout syndrome

(Hlavatska, 2019), (Tuğsal, 2020), (Chen, 2021).

The phenomenon of risk is the subject matter of

interdisciplinary research; in modern scientific

discourse it is considered as a complex concept that

covers the likelihood of adverse consequences and

assesses the extent of these consequences (Mythen,

2004).

In our study, risk is considered as a subjective

category associated with the ways a social work

professional assesses behavior strategies and

consciously chooses possible behavioral alternatives,

taking into account professional activities during the

COVID-19 pandemic and possible socio-

psychological consequences.

Occupational risk is considered by researchers as

a type of social risk entailed by the performance of

occupational duties, for example, the activities of

social work professionals, psychologists and other

specialists in care-giving sector (Volkova, 2016), (Jo

and Choi, 2021), (Kinman and Grant, 2020).

The nature and specificity of activities

characteristic of social work professionals explain the

emergence and development of occupational risks,

since while interacting with recipients of social

services, the social worker exploits not only their

professional skills and abilities, but also part of his

personal resources, such as emotions, feelings,

empathy, etc. Beyond this, there may be difficult

situations in the private life of social workers and

challenges in their work (for example, the COVID-19

pandemic), work with a much larger number of

recipients of social services and their families, a high

level of moral responsibility, etc. All this may

adversely affect the professional motivation of a

specialist, bring about disappointment in the

profession itself, cause various personality

deformations, and often lead to emotional burnout

(Krivtsova and Martynova, 2019), (Chen 2020).

Thus, the performance of a social work

professional is linked with factors of increased

occupational risk (external and internal, i.e.,

personal).

The analysis of factors affecting occupational

risks and assessment of socio-psychological

consequences of these risks for social work

professionals’ performance during the COVID-19

pandemic are complicated by the insufficient

development of methods and tools for conducting

such studies.

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The methodological basis for the study of

occupational risks in social work professionals’

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performance includes risk concepts (A. M.

Molokostova, O. N. Yanitskiy, T. V. Bendas, and

others); the concept of professional activities (E. I.

Kholostova, T. S. Bazarov et al.); approaches to

studying professional activities in extreme

(emergency) situations (M. Sh. Magomed-Eminov).

To conduct the study, we developed a

methodology applying a questionnaire survey and

psychodiagnostic research which allows to identify

and quantify social factors and causes of occupational

risks, taking into account the analysis of social work

professionals’ performance during the COVID-19

pandemic. Qualitative and quantitative analysis

allowed to assess the scope (degree) of the severity of

risks associated with activities of social work

professionals.

The logic of the study implied a theoretical

analysis of the activities of the subjects, i.e. social

work professionals, the subsequent identification of

factors and causes of occupational risks during the

spread of coronavirus infection and the assessment of

the socio-psychological consequences caused by

them.

The study was conducted on the basis of

organizations (institutions) of social services catering

for the population of the city of Kemerovo and

Kemerovo region in 2020 and early 2021 with the

participation of social work professionals (97

respondents). The study used the following methods:

the survey method (the authors’ version of the

questionnaire survey); the testing method using

standardized psychodiagnostic techniques such as

“Ways of Coping Questionnaire” (R. Lazarus and S.

Folkman, as adapted by T. L. Kryukova, E. V.

Kuftyak, M. S. Zamyshlyaeva); questionnaire

"Diagnostics of the level of emotional burnout" (V.

V. Boyko); questionnaire "Organizational Stress

Scale" (McLean).

A questionnaire survey of subjects, namely social

work professionals, was carried out with a view to

identifying the influence of occupational risk factors,

their manifestations and impacts on employees during

their professional activities in the COVID-19

pandemic. When analyzing the reasons for the

professional risks to occur in the activities of social

workers, we assessed the influence of such factors as

behaviour strategies demonstrated by this category of

workers (ways of coping with professional

situations), motivation for professional activity and

the value of this activity for them, the communication

skill level, the severity of emotional burnout and

organizational stress tolerance (stress resistance).

The results from the empirical study were

processed statistically: identifying differences in the

average levels of signs (Student’s t-test), conducting

correlation analysis (Pearson’s linear correlation).

3 RESEARCH RESULTS

As a result of the study, we characterized the

activities of social work professionals from social

service organizations (institutions) catering for the

population, taking into account the occupational risks

arising from working during the coronavirus

pandemic.

The activities of social work professionals during

the COVID-19 pandemic are linked with the

following functions:

 promotional functions, i.e. coordinating the work

of interagency and interdisciplinary networks to

develop and promote practices and standards for

the provision of social services to the population

during a pandemic;

 monitoring function, i.e. providing and adhering

to protocols to ensure the safety of the personnel

of social service institutions during the

coronavirus pandemic;

 response functions, i.e. case management in

conditions of increased social isolation of citizens,

as an important component of professional social

services (assessing the disadvantage, planning

assistance, redirecting social services, providing

psychosocial assistance in a situation of loss of

loved ones or after recovery from the coronavirus

infection); providing mutual assistance and

support in the professional community

(organizational, methodological, practical and

moral);

 preventive functions, i.e. identifying the needs of

the population and workers themselves (social

work professionals) caused by the coronavirus

pandemic; assessing the occurrence of

occupational risks and timely response to

emerging problems, etc.

It has been established that the severity of

occupational risks and their impact (socio-

psychological consequences) on the activities of

social work professionals during the coronavirus

pandemic depend on both the external social factors

(age, work experience in the field, relevant education

and training in social work, etc.) and the internal,

socio-psychological factors linked with this activity

(behaviour strategies, motivation and value of

professional activity for the employee, the

communication skill level, the intensity of emotional

burnout, etc.).

We assessed the severity of occupational risk

through a comprehensive analysis of risk indicators.

The social work professionals who participated in the

Social Work Professionals Functioning during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Occupational Risks and their Socio-psychological Consequences

347

study were asked to rate the likelihood of each

occupational risk indicator that might hinder

professional activities during the COVID-19

pandemic on a five-point scale.

Table 1 presents the ways the social work

professionals assessed the impact which the factors

(external and intrapersonal) of occupational risk

made on their activity due to the coronavirus

pandemic.

Table 1: Social work professionals’ assessment for the

impact of occupational risk factors and their indicators on

professional activity during the coronavirus pandemic.

Factor

rate

External factors

affecting the

occurrence of

occupational ris

Intrapersonal factors

affecting the occurrence

of occupational risk

1 Poor health Prolonged mental stress

due to difficult working

conditions

2 Low wages meeting

only basic needs

Feeling emotionally

drained and empty

3 Increased expenses

for maintaining

children and

relatives in the social

worker’s famil

Conflict situations

arising with recipients

of social services

4 Decline in the

occupational

prestige

Interacting with people

in emergency (for

example, those affected

by the pandemic,

suffering the loss of

loved ones after these

traumatic events)

5 Need to balance

between professional

activities and caring

for an elderly or

disabled family

member, a disabled

child, etc.

Constant work with

people in difficult life

situations, which

worsens their vital

functions and

livelihoods

6 Need to care for

young children and

bring them up

Conflict situations

arising with relatives of

recipients of social

services

7 Social work

rofessional’s a

Increased labour

intensit

8 Monotony in their work

routine

9 Routine nature of their

occupational activities

10 Fear of losing their job

11 Difficulties in

implementing their

professional plans,

uildin

a caree

4 DISCUSSION OF THE

RESULTS

The data presented in Table 1 show that the following

indicators of external factors have the greatest impact

on the occurrence of occupational risks in social work

professionals’ activities during the coronavirus

pandemic: the unsatisfactory state of health of the

social worker; low wages; an increase in expenses for

the maintenance of children and loved ones in the

social worker’s own family; decrease in the prestige

of the profession. According to experts, the most

significant indicators of intrapersonal factors of the

occurrence of professional risk include: mental stress

caused by difficult working conditions; a feeling of

emotional exhaustion and emptiness as a result of

difficult working conditions; conflict situations

arising from the interaction of specialists with

recipients of social services; work with people

affected by the pandemic and / or surviving the loss

of loved ones during these traumatic events.

At the next stage, we conducted a study that

allowed us to identify the impact of external and

internal factors on the occurrence of occupational

risks. It was achieved by a questionnaire survey and

standardized psychodiagnostic techniques (“Ways of

Coping Questionnaire” by R. Lazarus and S.

Folkman, adapted by T. L. Kryukova, E. V. Kuftyak,

M. S. Zamyshlyaeva; questionnaire "Diagnostics of

the level of emotional burnout" by V. V. Boyko;

questionnaire "Organizational Stress Scale" by

McLean).

Correlation analysis revealed the following. The

severity of occupational risk depends on: excessive

rationality, lack of emotionality, intuition and

spontaneity in behaviour (0.24); lower material

welfare (-0.35); unfounded self-criticism and taking

on excessive responsibility (-0.24); underestimation

of the possible effective resolution of a problem

situation (-0.29); the desire to protect oneself from

unpleasant impressions (0.25).

One of the reasons for the occupational risk to

occur is a decreased prestige of the profession, which

is influenced by: a narrowing range of interests for a

social worker (-0.23), a social worker’s activity and

productivity (-0.24); underestimation of the possible

effective resolution of a problem situation (-0.22);

high stress level during professional duties

performance (0.24); dissatisfaction with oneself, the

chosen profession, the position held and specific

duties (0.27); inadequate emotional reaction to

recipients of social services and colleagues (0.37);

lack of desire for close communication with loved

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ones (0.21) and a drop in the general energy tone and

depletion of the nervous system (0.22).

Excessive self-control (0.24), evasion of

responsibility and actions to resolve difficulties

encountered, passivity, impatience, tantrums (0.28);

the likelihood of excessive rationality, lack of

emotionality, intuition and spontaneity in behaviour

negatively affect health indicators and increase the

social risk. In addition, the severity of occupational

risk correlates with the desire for pragmatism, the

search for specific benefits from professional activity;

impulsivity in behaviour (sometimes with elements of

hostility and conflict), hostility, difficulties in

planning actions, predicting their results, unjustified

persistence (0.25); lack of empathy or compassion.

The severity of professional risk depends on a

number of personal factors: low level of activity and

productivity of one’s life (-0.26), exclusion of

emotions from the sphere of professional activity

(0.21); increasing awareness of the psycho-traumatic

factors of professional activity, which are difficult or

impossible to avoid, which results not only in an

increased risk, but also in irritation, despair and

indignation (0.21); fulfilment of their professional

duties and manifestation of emotions depending on

the mood and attitude towards a person as a symptom

of emotional and moral disorientation (0.23).

Working with various recipients of social services,

including people who have suffered accidents,

technological disasters, industrial accidents; natural

disasters, tragedies, etc., as well as people who have

lost their loved ones during these traumatic events,

social work professionals are likely to lose interest in

the subjects of their professional activity – the latter

may burden with their problems, their presence is

difficult to tolerate (0.24). An increased level of

occupational risk is affected by: nonconstructive

forms of behaviour in stressful situations (denial or

ignorance of problems, overeating, etc.) (-0.2); low

tolerance (-0.23); no need to seek recommendations

from experts and acquaintances who have necessary

expertise, no need for emotional support, no desire to

share their experiences with significant people (-

0.26); lack of responsibility (-0.23).

In addition, occupational risk level is increased by

complete dissolution in another person (0.23), rigid

behaviour (-0.22), impulsivity in behaviour, hostility,

difficulties in planning actions, predicting their

results, correcting behaviour strategies, unjustified

persistence (0.26); low value of professional activity

(-0.2); emotional callousness, impoliteness,

indifference (0.27), narrowed sphere of interests (-

0.21); low material welfare (-0.21); overcoming

negative experiences at the expense of a subjective

decrease in the significance and extent of emotional

involvement (0.22); suppression and containment of

emotions (0.22); excessive rationality (0.26);

excessive emotional involvement (-0.26) and, at the

same time, excessive mental perception and

processing of external information (0.2).

5 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results of the empirical study, we made

the following conclusions:

1. There is a pronounced relationship between the

severity of occupational risks and their factors. The

risk level for social work professionals is associated

with a number of personal factor indicators:

 ability to communicate, to adequately assess a

situation;

 commitment to the fullest realization of one’s

abilities in professional activity, to joint

activities with colleagues, to building

favourable relationships with them;

 absence of a professional burnout symptom;

 availability of numerous coping strategies:

self-control, seeking social support, taking

responsibility, planning problem solving and

positive revaluation.

The low level of occupational risks in the social

work professionals’ activities during the coronavirus

pandemic is manifested in the ability to communicate,

adequately assess the professional situation;

commitment to the fullest realization of one's abilities

in professional activity, to joint activities with

colleagues, to building favourable relationships with

them; the absence of a professional burnout symptom;

using adaptive coping strategies (self-control, seeking

social support, taking responsibility, planning for

problem solving, and positive revaluation).

A high level of occupational risks among

professionals is characterized by stress; limited

professional activity, conservatism in implementing

professional tasks; a professional burnout symptom;

using ineffective coping strategies of behaviour

(confrontational coping, distancing and escape-

avoidance).

2. It was found out that the level of occupational

risks has different dynamics depending on the fact

whether social work professionals have specialized

education and work experience or not. A high level of

occupational risk was detected in young specialists

with work experience under 5 years; and in specialists

with relevant education and training (which is

confirmed by the correlation analysis). The level of

occupational risk decreases with the age of

Social Work Professionals Functioning during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Occupational Risks and their Socio-psychological Consequences

349

professionals. At the same time, it was noted that

occupational risk is more likely to appear in

professionals who have worked in a social service

institution for 11 to 15 years, i.e. having considerable

work experience in institutions of this type.

Occupational risks during the coronavirus

pandemic lead to professional deformation of the

professional’s personality, which is conditioned by

both external and internal factors. External factors,

such as low financing for organizations of social

protection of the population, inadequate remuneration

for labour, etc., are difficult to correct. The influence

of internal (personal) factors can be minimized,

adjusted through risk management, while using

preventive methods that will allow professionals to

effectively cope with occupational activities and fully

function in their own life.

Occupational risk assessment allows to correctly

identify hazards, make decisions and effectively

allocate the resources of the organization and the

individual. The efficiency of occupational activities

of social work professionals can be improved and the

harmful effects of the coronavirus pandemic can be

reduced by following measures: taking into account

the specific character of work in an emergency during

the spread of coronavirus infection; emergency

management; using prevention methods for the

formation of psychological and emotional resistance

to occupational risks in employees; improving the

qualifications of employees, etc.

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