O Trabalho do Assistente Social na Política de Assistência Social em Manaus: um estudo sobre as repercussões da pandemia da COVID-19

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the work of the social worker in the social assistance policy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Manaus in order to produce subsidies to promote the creation of strategies to face the challenges posed to professional performance. To this end, we sought to identify the main institutional and user demands imposed on professional work as a result of the pandemic, as well as to know the working and health conditions of social workers who work in the CRAS in basic protection. The intention was to know how the professional work of the social worker was affected by the pandemic and to verify the difficulties and challenges that were faced by social workers, pointing out the potential for action and resistance in professional performance. From the methodological point of view, the research had an explanatory nature and a quantitative and qualitative approach. The study included carrying out bibliographical, documentary and field research, with the latter carrying out semi-structured interviews with social workers from the CRAS in Manaus, through videoconferencing, using the Google Meet platform. And for the organization and analysis of the results of the interviews, Bardin's Content Analysis technique was used. The locus of the research refers to the city of Manaus/AM, especially with the Social Assistance Reference Centers of Manaus - CRAS, the main equipment for the development of social assistance services of basic social protection, where twenty-three (23) assistants were interviewed belonging to seventeen (17) of the twenty (20) CRAS spread across the capital of Amazonas. The results obtained indicate that the pandemic had many negative repercussions on the working conditions of these social workers, who feel abandoned by management, by the State and devalued as professionals in social assistance policy. And most of these repercussions were already visible before the COVID-19 pandemic. As for the effects on the physical health of CRAS social workers in the capital of Amazonas, most professionals were infected by the coronavirus, and this corresponds to the delay in the arrival of PPE and in receiving the vaccine. And in relation to mental health, the main effects caused by the pandemic period were anxiety, fear and insecurity, which led most of these professionals to feel the need for psychological follow-up. And when it comes to the prevention of workers' health, one must think of the professional as a whole, because from the moment the worker does not have the necessary conditions to work and professional recognition, that worker ends up getting sick both physically and mentally. And it is concluded that through this research, it was possible to give voice to the social workers of the CRAS of Manaus, who struggle daily in search of better working conditions and professional recognition by the management and the State.