**Maria Wolmesjö, Ph.D.**

**1**

**Chapter 1**

Leaders

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

*and Paula Miranda Sánchez*

The Effect of COVID-19 on the

Quality of Life of Care Workers:

Challenges for Social Services

*Magdalena Calderón-Orellana, Alejandra Inostroza* 

that this reality implies to social service leaders are presented.

Stressful situations are likely to impact health and social care workers' quality of life negatively. Indeed, mental, physical, and emotional health problems have been reported in relation to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life of health care workers. Instead of health care workers' reality, and despite the care sector's relevance, studies of the effects of COVID-19 on the quality of life of care workers have not been sufficiently explored. Recognizing the effect of COVID on the quality of life of care workers will collaborate with leaders of organizations, social work practitioners, and academics in the design of policies that promote better working conditions. Therefore, during 2021, a study was carried out in Chile where 150 social services and care workers were surveyed in Chile using a version of COV19-QoL in Spanish. The impact of COVID on quality of life is described, and the challenges

**Keywords:** care workers, quality of life, COVID-19, social services, Chile - COV19-QoL

Evidence indicates that in the face of catastrophes, natural disasters and conflicts, social services and care workers are exposed to higher levels of demands [1]. Indeed, due to vicarious stress, which is developed from working with vulnerable populations, and from their own experience of the catastrophe, social service workers could develop higher stress levels, affecting their well-being and quality of life [2, 3].

In this way, regarding the coronavirus disease established as a pandemic in March 2020 [4], it is possible to project high levels of stress and affectation on the quality of life of social care workers. Indeed, care workers were strained worldwide as the health and social care systems were quickly overwhelmed by the virus's rapid spread and the limited availability of effective treatments [5]. At the same time, social care workers, like any citizen, had to face the closure of entire cities, the limitations of displacement

and the health crisis, generating an impact on their quality of life [6, 7].

Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden
