Talk to the Tablet: Technology’s Impact on Medical Social Work Practice during COVID-19

Abstract

Medical social workers (MedSWs) responded quickly to the call for virtual health care delivery driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study employed the social presence theory to investigate how technology impacted MedSW interactions during COVID-19. Qualitative thematic analysis on MedSW interviews (N = 54) revealed three themes: shifting social presence, adapting to virtual social work practice, and confronting equity and ethics. The findings suggest how technology-mediated practice contributed to feelings of professional dissonance from the discrepancy between MedSW professional values and the virtual delivery of job tasks. Education and research on virtual best MedSW practice is warranted to protect against professional dissonance.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• digital health
• medical social work
• professional dissonance
• social presence theory
• telehealth

Acknowledgements

Data for this study comes from the Healthcare Social Workers’ Scope of Practice during COVID-19 qualitative dataset. The authors wish to thank the @medicalsocialworker social media Instagram account and the medical social workers who participated in this study. The authors declare no financial interest in or affiliation with the @medicalsocialworker social media Instagram account. Views and opinions expressed on the account do not necessarily reflect those of the authors. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Jenay Beer for her general support of the paper.

Disclosure statement

The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

IRB Review

This study was approved by the University of Georgia Institutional Review Board (IRB), approval ID: 00002248.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Georgia professional development funds.