Negotiating Safety and Wellbeing: The Collaboration Between Faith-Based Communities and Public Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to lockdown measures where congregational faith-based activities were prohibited. With time, the collateral impacts of confinement emerged as priorities, and impositions had to be balanced with the collaboration of the population. In this process, faith-based organizations played a key role in encouraging their congregations to adhere to lockdown measures while fostering their mental wellbeing and resilience. This paper describes the process of establishing a collaborative negotiation among the Montreal Regional Public Health Unit, the police, and the Muslim and Jewish communities, examining the role of mediation in this context. Despite some obstacles, such as communication difficulties and decision-making limitations, the collaborative approach seems to buffer the escalation of intercommunity tension and to promote communities’ commitment to physical distancing measures and should be considered in times of pandemic for a more inclusive public health approach.

Religion-Spirituality Influences in the Governance of Faith-Based Organizations during the Covid Pandemic

“…The coronavirus crisis has exposed the contribution of FBOs in various formats: spiritual, emotional, and psychological support, providing assistance and distributing food and hygiene kits (Levin et al, 2022 ). Collaborative work between FBOs and public health has been observed in different contexts, allowing us to gather evidence from Canada (El-Majzoub et al, 2021 ), Indonesia (Rachmawati et al, 2022 ), Malaysia (Tan et al, 2021 ), and the United States (Galiatsatus et al, 2020 ; Levin et al, 2022 ; Modell & Kardia, 2020 ; Williams et al, 2021 ). Together, these studies suggest that partnerships expand the capacity of health policies in the face of the pandemic, transmitting information, reaching populations and minority communities, and helping directly in terms of tangible and intangible resources offered.…”

“…In this case, through digital and online means, in communication and dialogue between physicians and leading FBOs. In addition to the transmission of information and messages, in some contexts, an open discussion was maintained to resolve doubts, consult participants, and mediate conflicts or tensions between adherents of faith and public power (El-Majzoub et al, 2021 ). Such partnerships also make it possible to offer support through tangible resources: food and shelter, medical care, and vaccines for those unable to travel.…”

“…On the other hand, some negative points refer to possible conflicts between groups with different religious doctrines and between sanitary measures and religious practices. Collaborative negotiation between stakeholders, through dialogue and deliberation, seems to accommodate various demands (El-Majzoub et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Although they faced difficulties in adapting religious practices or services with the more intensive use of technologies and the Internet (El-Majzoub et al, 2021 ; Rachmawati et al, 2022 ), FBOs contributed significantly to the sharing of information and materials of hygiene to avoid contagion, as well as to encourage healthy behavior and vaccination. From a medical point of view, R&S practices have proven to be of great importance for mental health during social isolation (Lucchetti et al, 2021 ) and can contribute to recovering a sense of community, even if virtually (Levin, 2022 ).…”

Healthcare resilience - A meta-narrative systematic review and synthesis

“…Collaboration has been noted between healthcare organisations and those from other sectors, including public, private, non-governmental and faith-based organisations [9,12,41,48,49,85,104,107,120,121]. Coordination focuses on both intra-organisational and inter-organisational relationships [2, 12, 32, 41, resolution.…”