Collective resilience in times of crisis: Lessons from the literature for socially effective responses to the pandemic

Abstract

Most countries worldwide have taken restrictive measures and called on their population to adopt social distancing behaviours to contain the spread of the COVID‐19 pandemic. At a time when several European countries are releasing their lockdown measures, new uncertainties arise regarding the further evolution of a crisis becoming multifaceted, as well as the durability of public determination to face and contain it. In this context, the sustained social efficacy of public health measures will depend more than ever on the level of acceptance across populations called on to temporarily sacrifice daily freedoms, while economic insecurity grows and social inequalities become more blatant. We seek to develop a framework for analysing how the requirements of ‘social distancing’ can be reconciled with the conditions that allow for the maintaining, or even strengthening, of social cohesion, mutual solidarity, and a sense of collective efficacy, throughout the crisis. To reach this goal, we propose a summary of relevant findings and pragmatic policy principles derived from them.

Public behaviour in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: understanding the role of group processes

“…This means that we can help design more effective interventions to facilitate collective resilience in the face of the pandemic and other collective threats. Therefore, based on the above, and in line with other sets of recommendations, both in relation to the pandemic 5,[81][82][83] and to emergencies more generally, 2,84 our recommendations are as follows.…”

Challenging behavior of nursing home residents during COVID-19 measures in the Netherlands

“…Empathetic interaction with care staff improves mood in residents (Anderson & Blair, 2020), and it is remarkable that nursing home staff was very creative to overcome, negative effects of COVID-19 measures, for example by distraction, one-on-one social contacts and activities, and reducing the influence of negative news. Reported strategies can be considered as fitting to recommended policies in times of crisis, such as avoiding 'collective panic', allowing for the continuity of social ties, letting spontaneous solidarity express itself (Elcheroth & Drury, 2020). In residents, there were examples of social cohesion, while the results suggest that there was a sense of collective efficacy and solidarity in nursing staff.…”

Life Satisfaction during Forced Social Distancing and Home Confinement Derived from the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain

“…In relation to the data received by Public Health Authorities, the perception of lack of information has been considered one of the main triggers of stress in the time of a pandemic [52][53][54][55]. Keeping public media in operation and not taking any action that hinders social interaction beyond the need to keep physical distance is essential for the well-being of society [56]. Likewise, a clear and transparent communication by the authorities when issuing new instructions about the different measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 is essential to achieve compliance with the regulations and avoid the dynamics of collective change [56,57].…”

“…Keeping public media in operation and not taking any action that hinders social interaction beyond the need to keep physical distance is essential for the well-being of society [56]. Likewise, a clear and transparent communication by the authorities when issuing new instructions about the different measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 is essential to achieve compliance with the regulations and avoid the dynamics of collective change [56,57]. The absence of clear guidelines on actions to take and the confusion about the purpose of quarantine have significantly influenced people's mental health and life satisfaction [52,53], since in situations of existential uncertainty, most people redouble their efforts to preserve a shared and coherent vision of social reality [58].…”