The Impact of COVID-19 and RBT on the Mental Health of Black Social Workers

Overview: Race-based trauma (RBT) has a detrimental effect on mental health. Throughout the racial injustice of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in depression and anxiety among Black social workers. Social work education must address RBT and provide authentic opportunities to support Black social workers.Proposal text: Throughout 2020, the stress of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and escalating racial unrest nationally took its toll on Black Americans. According to the CDC, Black individuals are 1.4 times more likely to contract COVID-19, 3.7 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 2.8 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their White counterparts (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has also disproportionately affected Black individuals by exacerbating existing racial disparities in America, particularly in the areas of education, employment, and healthcare (Redondo-Sama, 2020). COVID-19 has also negatively impacted mental health. Those who are low-income or dealing with existing stressors were the most impacted by depression symptoms (Ettman et al., 2020; Wallis, 2020). The CDC found that the number of individuals reporting anxiety-related symptoms tripled and the number experiencing depression symptoms quadrupled as compared to a 2019 sample (Czeisler et al., 2020), and that these rates were higher among Black and Latinx populations than White (McKnight-Eily et al., 2020) .

Since the racial injustice protests began in June 2020, there has been an increased demand by Black Americans for therapeutic services (Roth, 2020), likely due to race-based trauma. It is important to provide services for Black clients receiving therapeutic interventions in order to cope with race-based trauma (Roth, 2020). Yet, treating higher numbers of clients exhibiting race-based trauma and/or COVID-19 related mental health symptoms may contribute to experiencing heightened symptoms of anxiety, depression, burnout and compassion fatigue among providers themselves (Adams et al., 2006). It is essential for Black social workers to take inventory of how their own mental health is impacted by race-based trauma and to seek support if needed (Heid, 2020).

The goal of our research project was twofold: 1. To measure, in a sample of Black social workers, the levels and associations among mental health symptoms, work-related burnout, compassion fatigue, clients’ race-based trauma, and personal race-based trauma, and 2. To determine the types of support systems that need to be in place to prevent burnout and to build resilience in Black social work providers.

We conducted a mixed-method study utilizing four standardized scales to collect quantitative data (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS, Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), COVID Stress Scale (Taylor et al., 2020), and the ProQOL (Compassion Fatigue/Satisfaction) (Stamm, 2010), and the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS, Williams et al., 2018), and we used nine (9) questions developed by the research team to conduct the qualitative interviews. We received 113 responses from the quantitative study, and conducted 20 qualitative interviews. The results showed that the overall models of stress, depression, and anxiety were significant. COVID-19 positively correlated with all models and race-based trauma positively correlated with depression and anxiety. 85% of the participants reported that they were most disappointed in the lack of support from their white social work colleagues. This workshop will shed light on the detrimental effects of race-based trauma and COVID-19 on the mental health of Black social workers, while also creating solutions for support.