Front-Line Social Workers' Practices Under the Political and Sanitary Crisis in Chile

ABSTRACT

In October 2019, mass civil protests erupted in Chile questioning the country's vast and historically rooted inequalities and injustices. These protests, which sought structural changes to Chile's neoliberal ethos, were abruptly brought to a halt by the arrival of COVID-19 in March 2020. The political, social, and economic impacts of the pandemic have only intensified the country's historic inequalities and injustices, hitting hardest in areas with higher levels of vulnerability. Increased unemployment, food insecurity, violence, and mental health crises are only a few of the many issues social workers face in the current context. Furthermore, social distancing measures and forced quarantines have caused social programs to rapidly alter strategies to meet the needs of service users, requiring front-line professionals to adapt quickly. To examine and analyse these rapid changes in the delivery of social programs as well as their impact on front-line professionals, a mixed-methods study was undertaken that included the application of an online survey and follow-up interviews with front-line social workers. We found that social workers reported greater workloads and employment precarity within the current context, that programs were changed to meet the immediate tangible needs of individuals and families, and that changes were primarily designed in a nonparticipatory and centralised manner. This chapter analyses the study's results and discusses the challenges social work faces in the current and future context. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.