Alone with the Pandemic. Maintaining the status quo among the MOPS wards who run private households

Abstract

Caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the COVID-19 pandemic can already be considered one of the more difficult situations that societies had to face over the last two years. This article presents quantitative analysis of the assessment and experience of the pandemic period from the perspective of those adult wards of the Municipal Social Welfare Centres (MOPS, the abbreviation derived from the institution’s Polish name) in Katowice and Częstochowa who run independent households. The text closes with a discussion in which the authors attempt to summarise and interpret research results with regard to the assumptions of Transactional Analysis (TA). What inspired the authors to undertake their own research presented here were the research results obtained as part of a project carried out by a team of scholars established to study the determinants of life and work during the COVID-19 pandemic; the research team was formed at the Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, and the authors of the present study were its members. In late 2020 and early 2021, the team conducted research on “Challenges, contexts and determinants in the life and work of MOPS wards and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic”. The findings obtained by the team in the course of their research were presented in two reports titled: Social Welfare During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Report on Research Conducted in the City of Katowice and Social Welfare During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Report on Research Conducted in the city of Częstochowa. The present study provides an indepth quantitative insight and further details regarding the aforementioned research results developed within the framework of these reports.