The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black social workers

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the psychological impact of the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and anti-Black violence on client-facing social workers who identify as Black, the coping strategies they used in response to the pandemic, and the ways in which these individuals’ racial and cultural identities impacted their experiences. Such individuals are at unique risk for traumatic stress and burnout. This risk was compounded by the traumatic nature of the dual pandemics and the ways in which they forced confrontation with Yalom's existential givens of human existence: death, isolation, meaninglessness, and freedom and responsibility. Eight client-facing social workers who identified as Black and lived in the United States were interviewed using a 19-item semistructured protocol created by the researchers that addressed the research questions. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis methodology. Five themes were constructed: (1) Changes in treatment due to COVID-19, (2) Emotional toll due to the pandemic, (3) Experiences related to being Black, (4) Beneficial experiences, and (5) Coping with COVID-19 and ongoing racism. Participants’ experiences demonstrated the compounded psychological risk factors they faced as social workers, Black Americans, and survivors of the pandemic, and the ways in which they confronted existential concerns. Participants demonstrated resilience by making new meanings out of their experiences and implied their successful posttraumatic growth. This study demonstrated the need for greater support of Black social workers in social work practice and policy to ease the compounded stressors they face as a result of the pandemic.