ABSTRACT
The use of YouTube as a social media platform for the sharing and preservations of materials COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to consider the perspectives of social workers and social work organizations during this global crisis. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, this chapter considers how social workers, social work organizations and associations have used social media during the initial crisis period of the global pandemic (March 1 to August 31, 2020) from a Canadian perspective. This analysis frames social media platform YouTube as an open-access archive allowing for the sharing of institutional, organizational and popular/grassroots understandings, reflecting both formal/official and informal/unofficial narratives about the pandemic from a social work perspective. A discussion of the methodology and approach to the inquiry is provided, followed by a discussion of the research findings emphasizing five themes: 1) the role of social work[ers] in COVID-19 responses; 2) changes to social work practice resulting from pandemic protocols; 3) responses from social work professional (regulators) and representational organizations (associations); 4) expressions of praise and congratulations to social workers; 5) social problems/issues related to the pandemic. A table of sample videos/links to online materials is included as an appendix to the chapter.
