The social impact of Covid-19 in the Netherlands. An explorative study
Nadja Jungmann, Jean Pierre Wilken
This article reports on the findings of an explorative study about the social impact of the Covid-19 crisis in the Netherlands. The impact is described in several domains of social work: children, youth and families, education, safety, sports and culture, labour, access to justice, income and debts, and vulnerable groups. In all these areas, the Covid-19 measures, in the Netherlands called «an intelligent lockdown», have a huge impact on social life and the psychological well-being of people. Social workers offering services to people in vulnerable positions, like people struggling with unemployment, debts and poverty, children dropping out of online education, elderly in care homes, and people with cognitive, physical or mental impairments, need to find new ways for getting and staying in relation. Community social workers face the challenge to support community life and to work on social cohesion in times of social distancing. Digital communication media become more important, but these needs both the right infrastructure and the skills to be used effectively.
Keywords
Social life, Social Work, Covid-19.
