Developing coping and self-care strategies has always been important for social work students as they prepare for work that can take a psychological, emotional, mental, and physical toll and adversely impact their health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented in its impact on social work education as it forced students to quickly transition to online learning and leave field sites abruptly to do remote activities. The degree to which and how social work students effectively coped with these changes has not been adequately studied, despite recognition that understanding how personal experiences and affective reactions influence professional judgment and behavior is a critical social work competency. To help fill this void, a mixed-methods study was conducted using video narratives and survey data to assess the coping and self-regulation skills of a cohort of undergraduate social work students. Findings indicate that these students experienced multiple stressors in all aspects of their biopsychosocial functioning due to COVID-19. Many coping skills learned for use with clients were demonstrated by students themselves. Self-sufficient, avoidant, and socially-supported coping mechanisms were frequently used and relied on by students. Use of self-distraction and active coping increased, while denial decreased within the first month after transitioning to remote learning. Implications of the findings for social work education, practice, and research are discussed.

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Reviews of research on deinstitutionalization show that investigators have focused primarily on adaptive behavior changes of "movers," while paying minimal attention to "stayers." Analysis of their research also revealed some methodological problems. We assessed 150 movers and 150 stayers in 1994, before deinstitutionalization began in 1997. We matched samples on seven distinctive variables, which were again assessed at similar intervals of 3, 15, and 27 months after movement. Movers made significant gains in independence and household skills, while stayers incurred losses in social skills and cognitive competencies. Teaching domestic skills and high autonomy were the best predictors of final self-care and multicognitive competencies, after controlling for initial baseline scores.

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