Social Work under COVID-19: A Thematic Analysis of Articles in ‘SW2020 under COVID-19 Magazine’

Robin Sen (Lead / Corresponding author), Christian Kerr, Gillian MacIntyre, Brid Featherstone, Anna Gupta, Abyd Quinn-Aziz

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    9 Citations (Scopus)
    87 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    This article presents a thematic analysis of 100 articles which appeared in ‘SW2020 under COVID-19’ online magazine, authored by people with lived experience, practitioners, students and academics. The magazine was founded by an editorial collective of the authors of this article and ran as a free online magazine during the period of the first UK COVID-19 lockdown period (March–July 2020). It contained a far higher proportion of submissions from the first three groups of contributors, above, than traditional journals. The analysis is organised under four analytic themes: ‘Hidden populations; Life, loss and hope; Practising differently and Policy and system change’. The article concludes by describing the apparent divergence between accounts that primarily suggest evidence of improved working relationships between social workers and those they serve via digital practices, and accounts suggesting that an increasingly authoritarian social work practice has emerged under COVID-19. We argue that, notwithstanding this divergence, an upsurge in activism within social work internationally during the pandemic provides a basis for believing that the emergence of a community-situated, socially engaged social work is possible post-pandemic.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1765–1782
    Number of pages18
    JournalBritish Journal of Social Work
    Volume52
    Issue number3
    Early online date20 May 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Apr 2022

    Keywords

    • COVID-19
    • critical social work
    • digital practices
    • social work activism
    • social work
    • activism

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Health(social science)
    • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Social Work under COVID-19: A Thematic Analysis of Articles in ‘SW2020 under COVID-19 Magazine’'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this