Unfolding Social Work research to address the COVID-19 impact: A text mining literature analysis

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to understanding the main social impacts of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 by highlighting the present and future challenges of social intervention and proposing a research agenda for social workers. Based on main indicators collected from international reports, we categorise the terms associated and analyse 284 Scopus articles that address social work issues in face of the COVID-19 through a text mining literature analysis. By applying topic modelling, we are able to identify relations within the body of knowledge between the main indicators. The results enable to highlight the current trends of research, contributing to leverage knowledge in Social Work in face of a complex and uncertain society. We find that most articles are focused on professional practice, as well as areas such as health, education, and employment. In contrast, we argue that issues related to women or migrants have been less explored. These aspects could bring new perspectives in future research within the pandemic context.