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Introduction
Statistics such as the unemployment rate highlight part of the Great Depression and COVID-19 pandemic story. The most vital impact was the two calamities’ effect on people’s quality of life. The tribulations of the Great Depression had tremendous social and psychological implications based on unemployment, poverty, and hunger. Similar issues appeared in the news frequently as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the country. The familiarity of these issues is thus reminiscent of the Great Depression, particularly for social workers engaged in public assistance, relief food, and jobless compensation.
Social Work Comparison between the Great Depression and COVID-19 Pandemic
The Great Depression resulted from the stock market crash of 1929, which left millions of Americans unfed and unemployed. The impact of both calamities was beyond people’s control; thus, the affected were entitled to support as a matter of social justice and welfare. The unemployment rate during the Great Depression was 25% translating to 12 million Americans, whereas the COVID-19 unemployment rate was 14%, where more than 23 million Americans were left unemployed (Iacurci, 2020). During the Great Depression, there was no federal system for direct relief, such as cash payments or relief food provided by the government to the most vulnerable people.
Charity services filled the gap by providing meager benefits, still below the amount needed to feed a family. The lack of public assistance would demoralize people, thus breaking their spirit and will to survive. Suicidal rates were bound to peak as people became disillusioned with their living conditions. The increase in suicide rates and mental breakdowns is attributed to exhaustion, thinking about where the next meal would come from. Unemployment breeds misery, dissatisfaction, and discouragement; thus, stress and depression levels among the affected increased.
Men suffered most during the Great Depression, as they were accustomed to working and supporting their families. The men vigorously searched for the few jobs available with minimal compensation to buy basic amenities for their starving families. They were disillusioned as there was no public assistance throughout the period, as the federal government was unprepared for the level of desperation. At the time, men were the breadwinners of the family; thus, their inability to fend for their families was viewed as a failure. Men could take unemployment for a few weeks as their families survived on the little savings, but the prolonged unemployment for two to three years broke their will to continue living in desolation. Most people became so discouraged that they stopped trying, and some abandoned their families.
At the height of the 1930s national calamity, social workers knew that families depended on scarce relief orders, thus exacerbating the deplorable circumstances. The situation is similar in the COVID-19 context as social workers highlight the feelings of anger, bitterness, loss of pride, and futility among the unemployed. However, the situation where men are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic more than women is different from the Great Depression. In the contemporary world, men and women can serve as family breadwinners, thus reducing the burden on one family member.
Social workers can identify the unprecedented increase in stress among the population caused by social isolation. This situation is exacerbated by the constraint of seeking support from the overburdened public program system. People were forced to accept compromises and make sacrifices that would affect them for the rest of their lives. The lack of public assistance would make young people give up their dreams, get married, or have children. Social workers should show kindness to the public by sharing resources and strengthening the bonds within the community. This service to humanity entails providing basic amenities such as foodstuff to ensure people are not malnourished. Social workers provided soup during the Great Depression and non-perishable food during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the continued lockdowns that limited movements to crowded places such as markets.
The family was the most vital source of strength for most Americans during both pandemics. During both pandemics, families would be locked inside their homes; thus, the value of family unity harmonized people to continue preserving in the hope of a better future. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown directives issued by the government ensured people stayed indoors to prevent the spread of the infection. This was similar during the Great Depression since the lack of public assistance and cash benefits led people to stay at home playing board games and listening to the radio.
Social workers realized that economic and emotional implications are the basis for most social work in both situations. The lines at food banks are similar to the Great Depression as people queued waiting for the relief food. In these circumstances, the primary role of social workers is to try to ease the despair of the people entangled in the economic breakdown. According to Brenner and Bhugra (2020), record numbers of people will likely have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), stress, anxiety, and depression as a result of the traumatic experience. Social workers were trying to bring thousands of disillusioned people the courage to live through support services.
NASW Code of Ethics
The NASW Code of Ethics is a document that sets forth generally accepted principles, ethical mandates, and interpretations for the guidance of those involved in social work. The NASW Code of Ethics is intended to serve as a guide to the everyday professional conduct of social workers (Cox, Tice, & Long, 2017). Social workers during the COVID-19 pandemic were faced with a series of novice challenges similar to their counterparts in the Great Depression. Social workers work in organizations overwhelmed by client issues ranging from lack of essential food, financial concerns, unemployment, and anxiety regarding the pandemic. Social workers were faced with questions regarding ethical obligations in circumstances where they could not provide services in the customary way defined in the code of ethics.
The NASW Code of Ethics states that social workers should not provide services unless one is competent. The ethical code was invalidated as social workers in both situations were required to work under circumstances in which they were unqualified. In both cases, social workers were required to operate under duress since their refusal to work during these circumstances amounts to abandoning vulnerable clients, violating their ethical standards (Barsky, 2020). In addition, social workers took care of clients’ needs at the expense of their health as they operated in environments where infections were rife.
Another ethical consideration in both situations is the issue of confidentiality. The NASW Code of Ethics stipulates social workers maintain client confidentiality to maintain their trust, privacy, and dignity. This stipulation also involves engaging clients in informed consent regarding disclosing sensitive information. The application of this provision during the Great Depression included not revealing details about starving families and unemployed people. Social workers were barred from giving specific information regarding the poverty levels of their clients. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, social workers were barred from disclosing the health status of their clients without their consent. This involves providing the names and addresses of the client to third parties who were not allowed access to the information. These parts of the NASW Code of ethics were most critical in challenging times to minimize the risk of harm to clients, social workers, and practice settings.
Conclusion
The tribulations of the Great Depression and the COVID-19 pandemic had a tremendous social and psychological impact exacerbated by poverty and hunger. Social workers were trying to bring thousands of disillusioned people the courage to live through support services. Social workers during the COVID-19 pandemic were faced with a series of novice challenges similar to their counterparts in the Great Depression. These incorporated the issue of providing services when competent and maintaining client continentality. Social workers invalidated the competency code as they were working under extreme conditions, but they maintained the confidentiality of their clients and withheld their sensitive information from public scrutiny.
References
Barsky, A. (2020). Ethical exceptions for social workers in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing. SocialWorker.com. Web.
Brenner, M. H., & Bhugra, D. (2020). Acceleration of anxiety, depression, and suicide: Secondary effects of economic disruption related to COVID-19. Front. Psychiatry 11:592467.
Cox, L. E., Tice, C. J., & Long, D. D. (2017). Introduction to social work: An advocacy-based profession. Sage Publications.
Iacurci, G. (2020). Unemployment is nearing Great Depression levels. Here’s how the eras are similar and different. CNBC. Web.
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