"There is a Balm in Gilead": Black Social Workers' Spiritual Counterstory on the COVID-19 Crisis.

"There is a Balm in Gilead": Black Social Workers' Spiritual Counterstory on the COVID-19 Crisis. Soc Work Public Health. 2020 Sep 01;35(7):523-532 Authors: Adams RD, Tyson CA Abstract The authors assert that art-based inquiry can serve as a powerful medium for understanding the connection between faith and resilience as perceived and understood by older African-Americans adults disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing the CRT method of counterstorytelling as our conduit to elucidate our culturally situated responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We seek to explore the connections between faith and resilience in social work practice during this public health crisis. Drawing from our shared experiences as two Black social workers we discuss the role spirituality plays in mitigating loneliness and stress among socially isolated older African-American adults (i.e., social distancing). Finally, with physical contact limited (i.e., social distancing) because of COVID-19, implications and recommendations for using spiritual-based practices with older African-American adults and families are discussed. PMID: 32970547 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Social Work in Public Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Soc Work Public Health Source Type: research