Serviço Social e desastres : uma análise intercontinental

Abstract

This thesis, presented to the Postgraduate Program in Social Work at PUCRS to obtain the title of Doctor of Social Work, aims to investigate the work of Social Workers in disaster situations in countries on different continents. The research is characterized as a multi-case, non-comparative, quantitative-qualitative or mixed study with a qualitative approach, and includes bibliographical analysis and direct collections, via online questionnaires. With its methodology supported by the materialist, dialectical and critical historical method, and has as its research problem: How has social work, on different continents, been organizing itself to face disasters? And its objective is to investigate how Social Work, on different continents, organizes its work to face disasters, in order to highlight potentialities, similarities and gaps that can support the improvement of professional work in disasters. The research resulted in the expansion of knowledge and discussion for the professional category about disasters and the work of Social Workers, as well as the construction of theoretical and practical elements that support and strengthen the intervention and response capacity of Social Services in disaster situations. The research stages were: bibliographic review, questionnaires answered by Social Workers from Brazil, Australia and Nepal, and analysis of the main international productions published between 2020 and 2023 in the Web of Science databases, and analysis of the productions of Brazilian Social Services, published in A1 and A2 journals linked to postgraduate courses in social work. The conclusions of the research indicated that social workers in different countries are called upon more frequently in the disaster response stage to implement the response plan and monitor the affected population, and that their technical skills and competencies are not always recognized and they are not called upon to contribute in other stages of the disaster. Despite this, on different continents, the work of social workers in disaster situations has as its object of intervention, before, during and after the event, the needs of the population and institutional demands. There is greater consonance than dissonance in the competencies and attributions and especially in the foundations of the professional project, in the ethical principles and in the social direction of the profession that is expressed in the defense of the rights of the population, in the confrontation of inequalities, in the struggle to qualify the service network, in the search for more effective responses in the areas of prevention, preparation and recovery from a disaster.