Social workers’ adaptation in times of pandemic crisis: A Hong Kong case

Abstract

Through the lens of the theory of planned behavior, this article explores how social workers adapt to a new situation due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three focus group sessions were conducted with 23 social workers from child and youth, family, and elderly services in Hong Kong. Three major themes were generated: (1) repositioning the social work profession, (2) renegotiating contracts with funders, and (3) exploring novel intervention methods. Implications of the findings are discussed. To ensure social workers can respond effectively in crises, an evolving nature of the profession is advocated to enshrine its spirit to serve.

Introduction

The daily routine of people around the world has been turned upside down by the ongoing global pandemic of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19. The impacts caused by the pandemic have lasted over a year, and the situation is often described as the ‘new normal’. In this new normal, people have had to adapt considerably to new working and living patterns. Social workers are no exception. Containing the novel contagious disease has adversely affected the foundation of social work practices. The crux of social work is based upon physical, face-to-face contact, so the everyday duties and activities of social workers might be contributing to the swift proliferation of infectious cases. During COVID-19, maintaining physical distance, shortening service hours, or even temporarily suspending service provision have been the primary measures to deal with the situation in the short term. To respond to the new normal, social workers have to adapt their service mode (Truell and Crompton, 2020). But as Banks et al. (2020a) observed, regardless of regional, political, religious, and cultural differences, the ethical challenges encountered by social workers engaged in diverse welfare settings across the globe during COVID-19 are universal.

Furthermore, governments across the globe had no sooner responded to the societal upheaval caused by COVID-19 when they were confronted with the aftermath of the pandemic. Not only did adverse conditions of socially disadvantaged groups worsen (Patel et al., 2020) but also hardship from the surge of unemployment (Blustein et al., 2020). The statistics showed the unemployment rate hovering around 6.8 percent, a nearly 17 year high in Hong Kong (Leung, 2021). Cases of family conflicts have increased during the pandemic (Zhang, 2020). Despite the fact that physical health and social distancing practices had to be strictly followed, discontinuance of social activity, aggravated by confinement within a small living space, heightened family distress. Such confinement also intensified the decline of the functioning capacity of some older persons or people with mental health problems (Banks et al., 2020b). Single mothers, who have had to balance work and family responsibilities during COVID-19, felt stressed, guilty, and tired (Hertz et al., 2021). Family conflicts have been aggravated all over the world. Zhang (2020) reported that the problem of family violence has become worse during COVID-19 in China. The risk of family violence has increased, as violent perpetrators and victims have been trapped in the home (Campbell, 2020).

The uncertainty of such a ‘new normal’ has also jeopardized both the physical and mental health of every citizen. Mental health issues have escalated during COVID-19. A local study in Hong Kong found that depressive symptoms, unhappiness, elevated stress levels, and prevalence of anxiety have drastically increased (Zhao et al., 2020). Older and underprivileged people have suffered the most, according to the study. Due to the prevalence of general anxiety, subjective deterioration of physical and psychological health has been found in Taiwan (Wang et al., 2020). The sudden abrupt societal demands further strained the already overburdened social service system, exacerbating the challenge of equitable allocation of services to those with urgent needs, without partiality. Unfortunately, such prioritization of needs further puts in peril those who were originally suffering.

On the whole, it is remarkable that limiting service hours and suspending service provisions are not a long-term solution to the situation. Nonetheless, impetuous decisions on resuming service provisions might also put both social workers and service users at risk. Aside from collaborating with health professionals to formulate a workable plan for maintaining service provision, replacement of conventional social work practices adhering to face-to-face contact with innovative service delivery via the Internet and technology is emerging. The ethical problem includes issues of upholding privacy and confidentiality as well as boundaries with service users (Wilkerson et al., 2020). These problems are unfolding as new challenges for the social work profession (Banks et al., 2020b). Nevertheless, social workers have to actively adapt to the new challenges to address pressing community needs.

However, little is known about what challenges have been encountered by social workers in adapting to conditions since the onset of the pandemic. Some important questions are worth asking: How do individual social workers cope with the situation by innovation or adjustments to conventional social work practice? Are such adjustments necessary to eliminate the new constraints? What is the meaning of the adjustments? What are the concerns and difficulties encountered by social workers? What is the required training and support to social workers? This study aims at answering the above questions through the lens of the theory of planned behavior (TPB).

Theoretical framework

TPB assumes that cognition predicts intention to perform a given behavior (Ajzen, 1991). The change of individual cognition in certain contexts can impact the intention for the individual behavior in that context. As mentioned, social workers have had to adapt to circumstances because of the outbreak of COVID-19. Their adaptive behaviors can be examined by using TPB, which focuses on three key factors: attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control (Ajzen, 1991). Attitude refers to the beliefs about the likely consequences of the behavior, which can be positive or negative. Subjective norm refers to the beliefs about the normative expectations of others on the behavior, such as social norms and pressure from the individual’s friends and family members. Perceived behavioral control describes the individual’s sense of control and general ability, such as the resources and opportunities, which may determine the likelihood of the achievement of the behavior.

According to TPB, the involvement of a new context may change the cognitive foundation of intentions and behaviors, thus changing the behaviors (Bamberg et al., 2003). This theory can serve as a relevant conceptual lens for us to examine social workers’ adaptation during a pandemic. TPB has received good empirical support in application to a variety of domains (Garay et al., 2019; Kim and Han, 2020; Ling and Chui, 2016; Ling et al., 2021). During COVID-19, TPB has been regarded as an important theory to examine the specific beliefs or changes in behavior due to the pandemic (e.g. Ammar et al., 2020; Andarge et al., 2020; Das et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2021).

As reported, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, social workers encountered various challenges in providing social services. These challenges are new and strange to social workers who are trained to practice in a conventional mode. Even if a behavior has become a habit, the behavior is expected to be adapted by taking the new information into consideration (Bamberg et al., 2003). Thus, it is vital to understand how social workers can navigate their professional adaptation in a new context during a crisis. In this study, TPB was used to guide our interview questions to explore the themes influencing the adaptation process of social workers during COVID-19. The adaptation can be understood as ‘changes that take place in individuals or groups in response to environmental demands. These adaptations can occur immediately, or they can be extended over the longer term’ (Berry, 1997: 13). It is assumed that social workers may experience changes to their attitude on their conventional practices, new normative expectations and requirements from society of their work, and the ability to achieve certain aims using innovative methods. These experiences may impact their intention to conduct a certain behavior or practice in their work.

Method

With the aim to understand how social workers practice in the present conditions and cope as necessary, focus groups were conducted. It was our aim to discover the difficulties and successful experiences in offering services during the outbreak of COVID-19. Ethics approval was provided by the third author’s affiliated university. Written and informed consent was obtained from the participants before the focus groups started. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used for the recruitment of participants (see Table 1). The participants were recruited through a subcommittee of a local professional social work association and social work alumni associations. All 23 registered social workers in Hong Kong who participated were involved in providing frontline social work services. Of the respondents, 48 percent were male and 52 percent were female. Eleven participants hold a social work master’s degree, eight have completed social work bachelor’s degrees, and the remaining four have sub-degrees in social work. Nine participants worked in children and youth services, six worked in family services, seven worked in elderly services, and one worked in a community service that provides support to both youth and elderly services. The average length of experience was 6.7 years. Twelve participates had 0–5 years of practice experience, six had 6–10, and five had 11 years or more. All of them had at least 1 year of experience in the current service setting, so that they were able to talk about their experiences of adaptation during the pandemic.

Table 1.

Profile of research participants (n = 23).

Pseudonym	Gender	Highest social work qualification	Service nature	Years of current services	Years of social work experience
1. Ann	Female	Bachelor’s	Children and youth	1	12
2. Alan	Male	Bachelor’s	Family	2	2
3. Ben	Male	Bachelor’s	Children and youth	8	8
4. Calvin	Male	Master’s	Family	2	2
5. David	Male	Bachelor’s	Children and youth	5	12
6. Endy	Male	Sub-degree	Elderly	1.5	5
7. Bonnie	Female	Master’s	Family	1	3
8. Carol	Female	Master’s	Family	13	13
9. Franky	Male	Master’s	Children and youth	4.5	4.5
10. Gidaina	Male	Master’s	Elderly	1.5	3.5
11. Hennry	Male	Sub-degree	Children and youth	2	5
12. Doris	Female	Master’s	Children and youth	1	7
13. Eva	Female	Bachelor’s	Elderly	2	4
14. Ivan	Male	Master’s	Children and youth	1	1
15. Fanny	Female	Sub-degree	Elderly	2	3
16. Gloria	Female	Bachelor’s	Elderly	1	1
17. Jacky	Male	Master’s	Children and youth	7	10
18. Hana	Female	Bachelor’s	Elderly	6	15
19. Iris	Female	Master’s	Children and youth	14	14
20. Kenny	Male	Bachelor’s	Children and youth	3	6
21. Jenny	Female	Master’s	Family	1.5	4.5
22. Katy	Female	Master’s	Family	4	10
23. Lily	Female	Sub-degree	Elderly	7	8

Three focus groups were held via the online platform Zoom. The sessions lasted approximately 1.5–2 hours. The first author served as moderator in the group sessions. The third author observed and recorded the interactions. Rather than being passive research subjects, the social workers in this study were regarded as co-researchers to conduct research on their own practice during the outbreak. In the beginning, the purpose of the study was explained to the group members. The moderator followed a predetermined topic guide to invite the group members to discuss how they adapt during a crisis, how they provide social services during a crisis, and how they view and evaluate their own work during a crisis. Open-ended questions were prepared based on the TPB themes, and sample questions included the following: ‘How do you feel being a social worker during the outbreak?’ (attitude), ‘What new requirements or expectation have you been subjected to during the outbreak?’ (subjected norms), ‘To what extent do you consider you are capable of providing services during the outbreak?’ (perceived behavioral control). Opportunities were also allowed for focus group members to discuss anything they regarded as relevant.

A thematic analysis method (Braun and Clarke, 2006) was employed to analyze the data. The discussions of the focus groups have been recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were read by researchers independently to identify initial codes. These emergent themes were reviewed by the authors and then revised. The authors met regularly online to discuss the themes and referred to transcripts when needed. Possible themes related to our research concern were identified and are reported in this article.

Findings

In the focus groups, participants first revealed the challenges they have confronted in their practice settings during the pandemic. In facing the challenges, extra effort was often required of them to adapt to an abnormal practice situation. Adjustments were required to enshrine the role of social workers during the pandemic. The adjustments they reported were recorded and classified into three major themes: repositioning the social work profession, renegotiating contracts with funders, and exploring novel intervention methods.

Repositioning the social work profession

The enforcement of the physical distancing rule and suspension of face-to-face service hit the traditional delivery of social work services hard, apparently disparaging the role of social workers in the community.

When there is such a large community outbreak, what I think about is the role of a social worker in the community, how to participate more, and even how to coordinate with the government. When the pandemic came, we had to stop everything. Most people have been staying home, so our role has become very weak. It may be a long-term situation. Thus, everyone must keep thinking about it. (Katy, female, family services)

Bound by the conventional role of social workers as case workers, primarily responsible for providing counseling and social group work, some social workers resisted being tasked with distributing disinfectant materials to the public and in the beginning regarded this as a process of deprofessionalizing social work. In addition, some of them were concerned about how to allocate scarce disinfectant materials as one of the ethical challenges. Nonetheless, they later reflected on this attitude and realized that there might also be professional benefits to the public if the disinfectants were distributed by social workers.

At the beginning, some colleagues said that, as social workers, they were not supposed to do such work. They were not supposed to distribute supplies like canned food and moon cakes [a kind of Chinese festival food]. They thought that it’s a kind of de-professionalization. Program assistant [non-social work] colleagues could do such work. However, later when I thought again, maybe when they saw every service center did such work and did with compassion, while we did it like a production line . . . I started to think that we should not set a limit for social workers: I hold groups, I meet clients, I organize mass programs – these are what I do as a professional in my domain. The pandemic made me see this point. (Hana, female, community service center)

Since it was implausible to suspend services in the long term, the motivation of social workers to seek an alternative method confronted the orthodox top-down service planning.

At the beginning, I was very confused. Then, later, everyone [colleagues] began to think about a new development, a new direction, or something other than using Zoom, like having a live broadcast, or making videos. Actually, we started to think, if the pandemic continues, how can we keep going? (Eva, female, elderly services)

As a kind of spontaneous reaction, social workers started to offer their services online by utilizing information and communication technology (ICT). They also struggled with the impact of the pandemic on professional roles.

And I even thought about what social workers’ practice should be like and how it should be transformed, because when some interns came, they said what they have learned was different from what the reality was. . . . What I am saying is that usually we hold groups or practice group dynamics physically. What should I do when I need to use Zoom? (Ben, male, children and youth services)

In addition, the adoption of ICT in delivering service was unfamiliar to many of them.

Colleagues who are not good at and are afraid of using ICT are more resistant to using it and need to adapt to certain technology. That means you need to have some younger colleagues. (Kenny, male, children and youth services)

Renegotiating contracts with funders

On some occasions, the development of alternatives was determined by the requirements and instructions of service funders. Accordingly, social workers were required to do what the service funders mandated, to fulfill the service contract.

We actually have some projects in hand, and they are all subject to other stakeholders, other parties; for example, as just mentioned, the Social Welfare Department and the Education Bureau [government departments]. They play a very important role. As our funding comes from them, we need to pay attention to their [agency] circular. (Ben, male, children and youth services)

However, the sudden onset of changes caused by the pandemic was not only new to social workers but also unfamiliar to government departments and other sources of funding. As revealed by the participants, guidelines or instructions given by government departments were ambiguous, particularly during the early stages of the outbreak. Although some social workers doubted the effectiveness of online service such as videos with ethical concerns, they needed to strive to do their best to provide online intervention. Some of them were not sure if online interventions could be counted by the funders as satisfying funding requirements and struggled with whether or not online services should be further developed.

In the later stages, once such ambiguity was clarified, social workers were formally encouraged to provide services online.

Those who are in senior positions [in her organization] have to follow the guidelines of the Social Welfare Department. . . . I remember the guideline issued last week recommending the Neighborhood Elderly Centre organize some online activities for the service users. Once those senior positions got this guide, they immediately encouraged their organizations/units to organize something online as soon as possible. (Gloria, female, elderly services)

Despite the alternatives that had been developed, efforts had also been made by the social workers and the management to define what ‘output’ is and how the output is counted in light of new online intervention practices.

We understand it was hard to achieve the ‘output standard’ listed in the funding and service agreement. We chose to continue to provide services such as conducting case interviews online, even if we did not know if these can be counted or not. Afterward, we discussed with the management of the agency the calculation of service output. For example, we tried to count a video [production] as community education in [the classification of] the service agreement. (Jacky, male, children and youth services)

Similar challenges were encountered by another agency in the same setting.

In the beginning, we did not know if our seniors had negotiated with funders and government departments for services output. As frontline social workers, we tried our best to do what we could to provide to service targets. Later, we [the organization] set an internal guideline for services output. For example, online video [productions] with minimum ‘view time’ [by the public] would count as ‘output’. (Ann, female, children and youth services)

Exploring novel intervention methods

Notwithstanding that alternatives are developing and being adopted to sustain service provision, social workers were also skeptical about such deviations from conventional service delivery methods, which cast doubt on its effectiveness. Some faced the ethical challenge of blurring professional boundaries. This uncertainty engenders social workers’ feeling of powerlessness.

Even though I worked hard at home, I think my effectiveness at work was low, and I really didn’t know if I was at work. For me, working from home is not like working in the office. It seems that I could never finish tasks when I worked at home. I worked for eight hours in the office every day; however, tasks seem never to be finished when I worked at home even though I worked for twelve hours. (Jacky, male, children and youth services)

During the early stage of the pandemic, social workers felt they were forced to seek alternatives; yet, they had adjusted to ‘crossing the river by feeling the stones’ after perceiving that the pandemic may last longer than expected.

Frankly speaking, at the very beginning, our colleagues were forced to make videos. They could make whatever they liked, as long as they had something to submit every week. Actually, to speak frankly, we don’t really know exactly what the kids want. We just did something to keep them engaged, so that we would know when they were in trouble. That’s our purpose. And when the second wave came, we started to realize that we couldn’t keep on making videos like that. So, what should we film? Only then did we start to produce videos focusing on the needs of our targets. (Hana, female, community service center)

Nonetheless, the uncertainty of service effectiveness may invite complaints or even tarnish the profession’s reputation. The senior management hesitates to take risks and invest further resources in the alternatives.

We had a speech therapy training program . . .We had classes two or three times before the pandemic; therefore, we had to keep on. Our targets were younger children, from 2 to 8 years old. It was difficult for such small kids to sit in front of the computer to receive training. Some parents complained that the online training was useless and placed a burden on the parents because they had to sit beside their children to supervise them during the training. However, some parents thought it was better than nothing. We are reviewing whether we should continue to invest so many resources in the online Zoom training courses or if we should suspend all the courses until the situation improves. (Bonnie, female, family services)

The effectiveness of a specific alternative might receive diverse results in reference to various target groups.

We can do so little when we have online classes. They may have negative experiences after the online classes. You feel so frustrated only making sure that every student has the web camera on. I think this is all we are experiencing. I think the issue of asking students to switch on the camera is as difficult and as complicated as dealing with the dynamics issue in small groups. (Kenny, male, children and youth services)

Despite having frustrations in the exploratory process, they identified a positive side.

When there is a risk, there is an opportunity. Actually, we can see what is possible and what is impossible. As I have just said, social work is a service to people. There is an advantage if it is able to provide the service physically. But in some situations, like in this pandemic, the novel intervention is suitable for some other kinds of clients. For instance, I found in our summer holiday activities . . . when I referred to the statistics, the attendance rate of youngsters is stable in comparison to the rate before the pandemic. And there are some cases in school; we have stationing service at schools. In the past, some youngsters didn’t have much motivation to go to the social workers’ rooms to meet the social workers. During the pandemic, they were willing to use Zoom to talk with the web camera off. (Iris, female, children and youth services)

Discussion

It is clearly evident that the COVID-19 pandemic has struck hard at the conventional way social work service is delivered, notably reshaping social workers’ day-to-day professional duties. In this study, TPB provided an effective conceptual lens for us to explore how social workers adapted to their occupational circumstances in such a difficult time. However, our findings seem to suggest that social workers’ adaptive behaviors were largely ‘unplanned’ and differed from what the theory implies. Rather than merely understanding their adaptive behaviors by a linear path model, social workers’ adaptations to the new normal can be considered a ‘becoming process’. As suggested by the participants’ experience, social workers’ attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control might not be favorable to change in the new normal at the beginning. But as time went on, social workers and their organizations became more ready to move on from the conventional mode of practice. As revealed by the findings, the three core components of TPB became more favorable for promoting adaptive behaviors. For attitude, social workers became more receptive to the new service modes. For subjective norms, their colleagues, supervisors, and funders generally gave support to and accommodation of their work. For perceived behavioral control, through trial and error, they gained experience and confidence in delivering services by using new intervention methods.

Furthermore, the concept of ‘conventional’ is paradoxical. What is deemed to be conventional is relative to the time and place we are concerned with and is comparative. From the findings, it is evident that the adaptation of social workers enshrines the social work spirit to serve. Rather than rigidly adhering to a specific service delivery model, social workers, especially those who work in nonprofit organizations, were responsible for pioneering, experimenting with, and innovating new services which fit the local situation for social welfare services development (Kwan and Chui, 2018; Shum, 2017).

The repositioning of the social work profession in the community indicates the division of work, bureaucratization, and delivery of social welfare services in the 21st century, which binds intervention practices to fit the individual welfare and public administrative systems. This division of work in the contemporary era had somehow fixated the day-to-day work of social workers and decelerated the established model of client-driven service development. The repositioning during the pandemic restored the demand of services, which requires expeditious response, adjustment of practices, and pioneering novel intervention.

This repositioning process necessitated adaptation that was more consequential than expected, as reported by the social work practitioners. Resistance to change was also found among some social workers. However, as established intervention methods and procedures might no longer be applicable, frontline social workers were prompted to explore novel intervention methods through trial and error. One of the prevalent attempts was to offer services online. Although some social workers resisted adopting such practices, on the whole, social workers had to do so, or else their services were suspended. Yet, their skills for engaging service users online and knowledge to operate online services might also be insufficient. The social workers reported that they were unfamiliar with delivering service using ICT. Ethical issues, privacy, and confidentiality using digital tools and online intervention arose.

Furthermore, under the new public administration in Hong Kong, fulfilling the requirements of their specific social service contracts was a challenge for most social workers in the adaptation process. It is noteworthy that many social workers were already under pressure to fulfill the service requirements when regular services (e.g. offering face-to-face counseling and home visits) had largely been suspended. However, new initiatives (e.g. producing videos, messaging via WhatsApp, and online games) implemented by the social workers to specifically address the community needs arising from the pandemic did not fall into any category of conventional service, risking nonrecognition by the funders. This temporizes further investment of time and resources to new practices.

Despite the fact that accountability is upheld in the social service sector, the performance of social work services has been monitored closely by external funders, through setting reporting systems and service standards. Although these measures may enhance the accountability of social work services, rigid implementation of the measures may restrict social workers’ exploration of new opportunities.

Implications

Our findings allowed us not only to listen to the difficulties encountered by social workers during the pandemic but also to provide important implications for the development of the social work profession, service management, welfare policy, and social work education. We advocate that social work be an evolving profession responsive to changes in the world. Despite the changing environment, the social work spirit to serve and work for the betterment of society should persist. Such a spirit should not be bound by any system or means of control. Particularly, it is worth highlighting that changes in practice environments are inevitable. Not only are the impacts of COVID-19 still having an effect on communities globally, but future crises should also be prepared for. In a post-COVID-19 era, we can expect that ICT will continue to revolutionize the way social workers practice (Mishna et al., 2021). Individual social work practitioners should not be fixated on their current roles and service settings.

Hence, the social work profession should be prepared and equipped with knowledge, skills, and practice interventions to better respond to community needs. Expanding the scope of the practice may be required, and the social work profession should constantly reflect on and review its role in the current pandemic (Kwan et al., 2020). Rather than responding to a crisis in a piecemeal manner, there is a need to craft a social work agenda on responding to global crises and other disasters. Although it was not reported by those interviewed here, the situation they described might suggest that coordination and support are required in the following ways:

1. Social work profession: The social work spirit should be upheld as a profession to serve, not bound by roles and systems, service scopes, or intervention methods and skills. Pioneering by a bottom-up approach should be revitalized to generate practical intervention strategies independently, rather than relying on a top-down approach.

2. Social work education: Since future social workers may practice in an increasingly volatile environment, social work educators should nurture a pliable, change-ready attitude. Research and service evaluation skills should be further strengthened in the curriculum for the students and practitioners, to review service effectiveness. On-the-job training and supervision should be offered to keep social workers up to date with knowledge, skills, and techniques, to enhance competence in dealing with unfamiliar situations before new rules and regulations are enacted.

3. Social service organizations: New institutional logic should be adopted to engender social workers’ ability to adapt to the ever-changing environment and motivation to develop innovative practices, with provision of the necessary resources and support, such as ICT equipment and appropriate support to pilot services. Risks in experimental approaches (without harm to humans), for instance, should be appraised as learning opportunities. Individual agencies should be ready to be released from ‘service-target specified’ practice and collaborate with other organizations.

4. Funders: Finally, to facilitate a supportive practice culture in this fast-changing environment, the government and funding bodies should keep in constant communication with social work agencies regarding service requirements. Certain flexibility should be allowed for exploring alternatives. Over-reliance on service models or practice guidelines by social workers is not recommended. Room should be given to social workers and agencies to generate new knowledge, skills, and practices.

The results derived from this study should be interpreted by keeping in mind some limitations. Although the way social workers practice is subject to the influence of decisions made by management, funding bodies, and the government, a detailed examination of their influence goes beyond the scope of this study. The participants came from children and youth, family, and elderly services in Hong Kong, and they tended to be young practitioners. Likewise, adopting an online mode for conducting focus groups may indeed discourage social workers who were reluctant to use ICT to join. These limitations may limit the generalizability of this study to the broader population. During physical distancing, focus groups could still be conducted through Zoom. But to a certain extent, it restricted participants in communicating nonverbal signals to each other and hence affected the quality of group interaction.

Conclusion

Despite these limitations, the findings offer helpful insights into the questions of this study, showing social workers’ adaptation in the outbreak of COVID-19. The findings also invite social workers to reflect on their professional role in future crises. Postwar social work development has grown in tandem with individual social welfare systems. The professionalization of social work and the institutionalization of social welfare services established a system of specialized division of work in respective social welfare systems and became stabilized in modern times. Nonetheless, the arrival and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the equilibrium of these systems in nations across the globe. Endeavoring to adapt to contemporary conditions is required to maintain societal stability. Despite the difficulties and resistance encountered, the pandemic has enhanced a reflection on the very nature of the social work profession: a spirit to serve that should not be bound by any means. Such continuous enshrinement of the social work spirit requires concerted efforts made by the government, funders, social service providers, social work educators, and social work practitioners. The future of social work development should be duly valued and appropriately enhanced, so that social work practitioners are resilient in the face of global crises and disasters.

Author biographies

Henry Wai Hang Ling is a honorary lecturer and a part-time assistant lecturer (practice consultant) at the University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on social work direct practice, social work education, and volunteerism.

Michelle Hei Yan Shum is an assistant professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research incorporates legal and institutional analysis into studies of social policy, governance, and public administration, and macro practice.

Chi Kin Kwan is an assistant professor at City University of Hong Kong. His teaching and research cover meso-level social work, disability, and mental health.

Mingdie Xu is a PhD candidate at City University of Hong Kong. Her research explores how social enterprises facilitate social inclusion.