Article by Kim M. Simpson, Connect to End COVID-19 Communications Lead.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, social workers, like most helping professionals, ramped up quickly under intense circumstances to help individuals and families to make informed decisions about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. As part of a national response to the pandemic, Connect to End COVID-19 is a $3.3 million Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded initiative to help social workers and their clients to make informed decisions about life-saving vaccines.
Since July of 2021, NASW and the NASW Foundation have partnered in this initiative with the Health Behavior Research and Training Institute at The University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work to provide national and state chapter-level training, tools, and information that promote COVID-19 vaccine confidence and uptake.
Highlights of Connect to End COVID-19’s record of achievement include:
- In a three-year national communications campaign, NASW and its Chapters administered fact-based information, tools, and training to promote COVID-19 vaccine confidence.
- In collaboration with HBRT, NASW Chapters are on track to provide 27 free six-hour MI-SBIRT Trainings that include five complimentary CEUs for social workers. More than 1,000 social workers have been trained and an app was created and launched.
- NASW hosted seven live 90-minute complimentary webinars that provided free CEUS (also available for self-study). Close to 18,000 people registered and earned nearly 14,000 CEUs.
- Approximately 40 Ambassadors, recruited from NASW Specialty Practice Section (SPS) member ranks, amplified the initiative’s messaging to their audiences; and three Sister Social Work Organizations engaged in communications campaigns that augmented messaging.
Though the grant concludes September 29, 2024, work around COVID-19 continues for social workers and other helping professionals. More than 1.2 million people in the U.S. have died since the start of the pandemic in 2020 and new COVID-19 strains continue to circulate causing illness and death. Approximately 112 million COVID-19 cases have been recorded, though current illness and death tallies are far below levels experienced during the height of the pandemic, according to CDC data.
A Look Back, A Look Ahead: Part One of a Three-Part Series
In a three-part series, the Connect to End COVID-19 team examines the impact of this initiative, the important role social workers played in the pandemic, as well as lingering questions around the long-term impacts of COVID-19 and the pandemic.
In Part One, an interview with Gwen Bouie-Haynes, PhD, LMSW—Executive Director, NASW MS Chapter and NASW Alabama Chapter; and, Project Coordinator, Connect to End COVID-19 Special Populations. Dr. Bouie-Haynes has implemented NASW Chapter communications and outreach in Mississippi on behalf of Connect to End COVID-19 and hosted a MI-SBIRT Training (2022) in collaboration with the UT Austin HBRT team.
Why was it important to have social workers ‘at the table’ during the COVID-19 Pandemic—especially within the context of Connect to End COVID-19 / CDC vaccine confidence grant?
I think social workers being ‘at the table’ is important and should be included in crisis planning during any pandemic. Social workers bring a plethora of skills to navigate working with systems quickly, and they are trained to identify services and impact policies and decision-making. The fact that social workers are employed everywhere in all sectors of society working with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations makes individuals in the social work profession unique.
This uniqueness can help to address access to resources and educate communities when working with Special Populations. Social workers are considered the trusted professionals working directly with people. During the past three (3) years of the vaccine confidence grant, Special Populations of people have been reached across many communities in the different states where vaccine confidence was low. The importance of social workers in this vaccine confidence grant cannot be underestimated as it completes the “menu” of services that can be available to special groups of people and the essential deliverables for the grant.
What is the biggest success of Connect to End COVID-19? What are related smaller successes?
There are several successes of the grant; however, I will only mention a few here. The biggest success of the COVID-19 grant is the presence of social workers in many states being at the forefront of the project to ensure the needs of Special Populations of people are met. It has been very rewarding for social workers to review data regarding the gaps in resources and to consider assessment of vaccine confidence in their communities. The communication toolkits, chapter dialogue discussions, and meetings have opened plans for long-term sustainability needs in this grant given the changing landscape and different messaging.
The training aspect of the grant is a success also on Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT). I recall one local social worker attending the first training from my Chapter comment, “By having the opportunity to receive training through the Connect to End COVID-19 grant I feel confident and prepared to support and help Special Populations that may seek out help for mental health services, vaccine confidence decision-making, and to provide educational information.”
The Sister Social Work Organizations and social work Ambassadors have been noted as defining highlights of the project. The smaller success might be the limited potential to address the needs of all Special Populations and the difficulty to reach people such as the unhoused, justice involved individuals, rural areas, people with disabilities, people in recovery, or long-term care settings.
What are lessons learned, within the context of social work, from the COVID-19 Pandemic?
At the height of the pandemic, there were many inequities and gaps in services and vaccine confidence. If nothing else, I believe social workers and public health officials must align their work to ensure Special Populations have access to vaccine confidence early during a pandemic. For example, Special Populations such as children, older adults, pregnant persons, people with disabilities, minority populations, people in recovery require early identification. Early access must be done to perhaps limit the number of perceived deaths in communities and to address existing social determinants of health such as food insecurities, medications, and basic or medical needs.
What are some of the lessons learned from the CDC vaccine confidence grant?
Social workers across the country have been critical in the vaccine confidence grant. This is the essential part of the grant. Equitable collaboration with organizations has been a lesson learned on ways to diversify coordination in communities. This might be an impactful way to respond to the more difficult to reach Special Populations and underserved people experiencing a lack of services.
Did the pandemic adversely impact the mental health of social workers and the individuals and families with whom they work?
I have read information that social workers have been impacted by secondary mental health needs, and I attended and organized the Connect to End COVID-19 national webinar on this topic. One area that might help explain the impact of the pandemic on social workers is the need for more research to examine the impact of the pandemic on social workers and continuous service delivery. Given the scope and magnitude of the pandemic, social workers may be reporting increased conditions for compassion fatigue, vicarious traumatization, traumatic stress, and burnout now and in the future.
How do we, as a country, begin to deal with the mental health (and other) related impacts of the pandemic?
I think organizations can focus on Employee Well-Being and supports. This would include checking in with employees and ensuring resources are provided, recognizing social workers as first responders in all communities, assuring equitable compensation, and providing mental health time from work monthly. It is challenging at best for social workers to practice self-care, but it is essential. I do believe that being prepared for another pandemic is critical. This preparedness requires knowing the community needs, developing train the trainer teams, and collaborating consistently with organizations to include the social work professionals in the crisis planning process.
Are we ready for another pandemic (or crisis of another nature) in the future? If not, how do we better prepare?
This is a good question. Given the scope and magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, I think it is imperative to build on the perceptions of booster hesitancy to counter any new waves of inaccurate information especially concerns of booster safety. Pandemic fatigue is continuously experienced as well. I think ways to act is to have social workers and professionals engaged in communities as trusted ‘Social Work Navigators’ providing accurate, educational information.
Anything else that you believe is important to mention?
There are so many successful efforts of the project, and I am honored to be a part of this work. However, there might be threats or challenges to the long-term sustainability of vaccine confidence which could affect the difficult to reach communities. The challenges might possibly be continuous limited access to resources in already frail communities.
Lastly, I think there is a clear need for more research about COVID-19 and social workers. Given the continuous data on healthcare professionals and first responders, research is also needed to help understand COVID-19 and how to effectively support social work practitioners during the pandemic. I did not think I would have been as informed and confident in my vaccine decision-making without resources from this project and my family supporting me. This has been a very satisfying experience to elevate the social work professional in this grant.
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Stay tuned for Part Two of this three-part series on July 31: an interview with Barbara Bedney, PhD, MSW—NASW Chief of Programs and Principal Investigator (PI) on this CDC-funded grant, Engaging Social Workers in Boosting COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake. The final installment in the series will be available in September.
Visit Connect to End COVID-19 on the NASW Website to learn more about the initiative.
The Connect to End COVID-19 initiative is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of a financial assistance award totaling $3.3 million with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
