The High Council for Social Work (HCTS) has published a report report on the impact of the health crisis on the professional practices of social workers in different fields: solidarity in the broad sense, poverty, access to rights, child protection, support for people with disabilities and/or in situations of dependence, emergency accommodation or social work in the neighbourhoods.
The report explores this impact from different angles: governance and organizations, territorial dynamics and partnership links, relations with the public, professional practices, experiences and initiatives taken, the experiences and feelings of social workers and the people they serve.
It devotes a chapter, full of testimonies, to the use of digital tools: if the health crisis has accelerated the digital transition, it also reveals the obstacles to its development.
The crisis, a gas pedal of digital use
The use of digital tools is not entirely new among social workers."Until then, the dominant representations cast doubt on the ability of social workers to appropriate these technologies, or even their reluctance to use them. The arguments put forward concerned fears of a negative impact on the relationship, but also doubts about the security and confidentiality of the data concerning the people supported, and finally the insidious arrival, via computerization, of an accounting rationalization of the activity, accompanied by demands for quantitative objectives, leaving little room for the qualitative dimension of the relationship and the purpose of social work.The health crisis and the demand for teleworking have highlighted another side of the delay of social workers in the appropriation of digital technology, which cannot be attributed to them: the lack of equipment. "Many social workers went to work at home with their files and ... a telephone, sometimes even their own!
Very heterogeneous situations.Some services, institutions, and communities had already been working on equipment and training plans for social workers for a long time, while others found themselves faced with a lack of anticipation. "In the first days, or even the first weeks, solutions in terms of equipment and communication, telephone conferences, videoconferences were mobilized in record time and accelerated the process of appropriation of digital tools.
Digital uses, realities and impact
The generic term digital encompasses many realities, from the telephone to social networks and the use of business software.The telephone" In reality, most social workers used a telephone, a tool that was neither new nor revolutionary as such, but it was the very use of the telephone that was new. Since it was impossible to see people physically, the telephone became the vehicle for maintaining the link. Until then, the telephone was familiar and allowed people to make appointments, contact partners, and reach various platforms. From the time of confinement, it became essential for all professional acts.The use of videoconferencing and social networks" Most local authorities, institutions and associations quickly used videoconferencing media to maintain the functioning of the structure and the links between the different agents: department meetings, partnership meetings, etc. For most of them, the use of videoconferencing was the first step in the process.For most of them, this practice is perceived as offering multiple advantages: efficiency linked to the need to be concise, rigorous preparation, respect for speaking time, saving time, less travel. However, this practice has its limits: " in the framework of projects or reflections to be built, it proves to be less efficient, because it limits creativity, exchanges and contradictory debates that produce collective intelligence". "The positive experience of the use of video-conferencing will allow this practice to be permanently established in institutions, and should save time for all, including social workers, provided that they do not give in to the illusion that from now on all exchanges can be done remotely", the HCTS observes: "The direct meeting must remain a priority, it remains the basis of the human relationship and dialogue"."Video-conferencing systems have also been used by social workers to maintain group activities (integration, social link activities) but also to communicate and relay national messages in an understandable way".Digital technology, the tool of telework
The framework for remote coaching has been telecommuting or more accurately working from home.Telework is regulated and must meet the conditions of availability of the agent at home, which implies that he/she takes his/her children to the nursery or school and thus has a space and time dedicated to his/her professional activity. " During the confinement, not having been listed for access to nurseries and schools, social workers found themselves, like many professionals, managing work and the domestic sphere, a situation reinforced by the gendered nature of these professions, which are predominantly occupied by women.
The HCTS points out here, " a blurring of the gap between professional and personal life, to the detriment of women professionals (...) women professionals have often had to deal in their daily lives with both their professional work and domestic work: taking care of children, preparing meals (...) The period of confinement, far from having allowed a rebalancing of tasks between the sexes, has on the contrary been marked by an increase in gender inequalities in the distribution of domestic work, penalizing women professionals.
In the context of social work, this porosity between the private and professional spheres has produced contrasting effects: "for some social workers, this situation has been complicated in terms of reconciling everything, but it has not necessarily been a hindrance in the relationship with the people, and has even sometimes created a certain solidarity or even complicity between the social workers and the people they support.
Promote a better use of digital tools
Following this report, the HCTS recommends (this is the ninth of its 12 recommendations) to promote a better use of digital tools:- By equipping social workers with efficient and mobile equipment (smartphone, tablet, computer, VPN);
- By developing digital access methods for the poor: free Wi-Fi, social pricing, donation of reconditioned equipment, etc. ;
- By developing the network of digital mediators and the cooperation between them and social workers.
Référence :
