Risk Factors Contributing to Crossing Professional Boundaries in the Context of COVID-19 in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Crossing professional boundaries in the context of Czech social work remains an understudied phenomenon. Additionally, the recent situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected work conditions and transformed social work practice. The aim of this article is to answer the following research question: How do subjectively experienced risk factors affect the social worker in situations when professional boundaries are crossed and in the context of a pandemic situation (COVID-19)? The text is based on the theory of professional boundaries in the client–worker relationship and also includes the perspective of professional boundary crossing in social work. The key conceptual framework is ecosystem theory qualitative research carried out in two phases via in-depth semi-structured interviews in the selected locality. Each phase included informers who were active as social workers in low-threshold centres for children and youth. The text is a reflection of the influence of external factors on professional boundaries and of the internal dispositions of social workers, on the basis of which the text offers practical recommendations for social work practice in three categories: social workers at the individual level, leadership and organisations, educational institutions.