CHSS Undergraduate Research & Creative Works Showcase

Ethical Challenges in Social Work Practice in Pandemic Conditions: A Photovoice Project
By Ursula Choice

Faculty advisor/course instructor: Jocelyn Hermoso
Entry #17

The COVID-19 virus pandemic has brought up a multitude of issues and challenges. It intensified already existing inequities which disproportionately affected the marginalized. Social workers played significant roles in responding to the pandemic, including working on the front lines, providing direct social services to clients, and organizing mutual aid groups to support precarious communities. At the same time, the shift in practice modalities to curb infection rates also brought new ethical challenges to social work practice. Building on the works of Banks et al, 2021 and IFSW, 2021, this Photovoice project sought to address the research question: What are the ethical challenges in social work practice in pandemic conditions? Conducted as a class research project, this Photovoice project involved having twenty-seven (27) students each take a photograph that symbolized an ethical challenge to social work practice brought about by the pandemic. Using Wang and Burris’ (1997) SHOWeD framework, the students conducted a focused group analyzing the photographs and formulated themes addressing the research question about the ethical challenges to social work practice. Implications for social work practice, policy, research, and education of this Photovoice project will be explored.