Surveillance and Social Distancing: Challenges and Opportunities of the Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Context of COVID-19 in Carrying Out Activities by Probation Counselors in the Western Part of Romania
Surveillance and Social Distancing: Challenges and Opportunities of the Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Context of COVID-19 in Carrying Out Activities by Probation Counselors in the Western Part of Romania

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the way in which probation counselors in western Romania have responded to the problems generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden changes caused by it in their working procedures. We analyzed the work, experiences, and adaptation of probation counselors during the critical pandemic period and beyond to identify the resources and skills they held or acquired to cope, adapt, and develop professionally. Our objective was not only to obtain information about the changes that occurred during the pandemic but also to explore the attitudes generated by them. We have interviewed 31 probation counselors in two distinct temporal stages, the first taking place in the full context of the pandemic, and the second stage taking place after the medical and social restrictions imposed by COVID-19 ended. The pandemic crisis, perceived as a stressful event, exposed probation counselors to individual, but especially professional and societal risk factors, making it difficult to fulfill their role through digital means. However, certain work skills acquired during the pandemic period have proven to be useful discoveries that facilitate their work in the post-pandemic landscape. The results obtained reveal the need for intervention for the valuing of human, material, and time resources that have proven beneficial in professional functionality during the pandemic, as well as for the promotion of an institutional climate and a work environment to satisfy the professional needs of probation counselors and to improve the insufficient logistics structure in the context of modernization and digitization of their activity.

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