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Summary: There is broad consensus that COVID-19 has had a pernicious impact on social work, in general, and among social work practitioners, more specifically. However, at present, very few, if any, empirical examinations of this impact exist. This exploratory study examined peritraumatic distress among a sample of social workers (N = 3920) in one southeastern state in the United States. Findings: Analysis suggests that distress is impacted by several variables. In general, participants identifying as male, married, reporting good physical and mental health, working in microcontexts, and who were finically secure tended to experience less COVID-19 associated distress. In addition, social workers identifying as LGBTQ* and who had been working mostly remotely experienced higher levels of distress. Applications: Overall, findings indicate the need to provide adept support to social workers practicing during the pandemic. Data suggest the need for targeted support initiatives, typically for those who are from underrepresented groups (e.g., LGBTQ*) or experiencing financial or mental/physical health issues. Certainly, researchers should continue to examine the impact of COVID-19 on social work practitioners and service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Despite the importance of self-care to social work practice, misnomers about the construct persist. One misperception is that millennials are overly focused on self-care and engage in high-levels of self-care, to the detriment of performing work duties. This study examined the self-care practices of social work practitioners (N = 3079) in the United States. Researcher investigated self-care practices across five domains: Professional Support, Professional Development, Life Support, Cognitive Awareness, and Daily Balance. Findings: Overall, data suggest that social workers in all generations engaged in moderate amounts of self-care. Analyses revealed that millennials engaged in significantly fewer self-care practices related to Professional Support and Daily Balance, when compared to Generation X and Baby-boomer participants. While not statistically significant, millennials scored lower across all other self-care domains. Applications: This is the first known study to explicitly investigate generational differences in self-care within any professional discipline. Within the next five years, millennials will make up nearly 75% of the world's workforce. Findings from this research suggest the need to reshape prevailing anecdotes about self-care and millennials. Further, data offer insights to organizations looking to better support social workers of all generations in engaging in self-care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has undoubtedly affected all caregivers, including foster carers. Despite the importance of self-care in assuaging the impact of the pandemic, there is a dearth of research on this topic, and virtually nothing specific to this important group. This study uses a retrospective pre/post design to measure the impact of the pandemic on foster carers' self-care. An invitation to participate in an electronic survey was circulated among carers in a US state and a snowball sample of 1229 compiled. Analyses of their replies revealed significant decreases in self-care practices in the months following the start of the pandemic. Disaggregation of the post self-care scores showed that foster carers who were married, not employed outside their home, reported good mental and physical health and were financially stable exhibited higher levels of self-care compared to their peers. Furthermore, hierarchical regression analysis showed that three factors – age, financial security and mental health status – were the strongest determinants of post-care practices. The findings suggest the need for concerted efforts by foster care agencies to conceptualise, implement and evaluate initiatives aimed at the self-care and wellness of carers during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five themes of subtle and systemic sexism emerged in a content analysis of the Journal of Social Work Education, 1998-1999: discrepancies in pronoun usage, sexist language, inconsistent attention to gender as a variable or construct, and inattention to gender as a framework in understanding topics. The analysis also discovered a preponderance of nongender language, which raises questions about the implicit messages of gender-blind language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]