Change Readiness and Positive Orientation in Professional Helpers in the Polish Welfare System during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly a crisis situation, which means that the lives of persons experiencing it will never be the same as before. Professional helpers are faced with numerous challenges related to the change in their work flow, the need to modify strategies, work methods and tools, or to the switch from on-site to remote work. In this context, professional helpers’ resources are of considerable importance, as they constitute an important part of the welfare system. The analysis of the results of previous studies suggests that social workers’ change readiness and positive orientation not only may increase their professional effectiveness, but may even foster better quality of life. The present study investigated positive orientation and change readiness, as important predictors of professional functioning of persons in the sample group. The questionnaires were distributed among 189 professional helpers working in the Polish welfare system. The response rate was 98% (the final sample consisted of 185 persons) The results show that most subjects are characterized by the below-optimal levels of all the analyzed traits of the change readiness, but high and medium levels of positive orientation. The groups differed from one another in terms of adaptability (difference close to statistically significant). Change readiness and positive orientation may constitute important resources for professional helpers. Long service, being married, and a low level of change-readiness revealed in the presented study, may indicate that change-readiness is a general tendency in specific individuals, and is not dependent on the nature of changes themselves. The results may prompt a search for relations between personality factors and change-readiness.