impact of pandemic containment measures COVID-19 on social work research with older people

Researching people's everyday lives, exploring and working out answers together with people are fundamental processes of social work, whether working with individuals, different groups or communities. Without research, we cannot possibly know what specific tasks we can undertake or what social work goals we can achieve when it comes to helping situations. In recent decades, social work with older people has directed research toward the area of exploring the needs of people in long-term care, which has been shaped primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures taken to contain the pandemic have limited or even prevented opportunities to research the real-life situations of people in long-term care. Social work research with older people was limited in its ability to determine the impact of the pandemic on the lives of older people, which was a violation of fundamental ethical values in providing tailored care in the new life situations of the most vulnerable, frail, and needy members of society. This paper highlights the importance of social work research that addresses the immediate living environment in order to fully understand people's life situations that impact the development of both the profession and the science of social work. However, the barriers to research due to pandemic containment measures have impacted the profession and the development of social work science.