Mass Gatherings, Health, and Well‐Being: From Risk Mitigation to Health Promotion

Abstract

Mass gatherings are routinely viewed as posing risks to physical health. However, social psychological research shows mass gathering participation can also bring benefits to psychological well-being. We describe how both sets of outcomes can be understood as arising from the distinctive forms of behavior that may be found when people-even strangers-come to define themselves and each other in terms of a shared social identity. We show that many of the risks and benefits of participation are products of group processes; that these different outcomes can have their roots in the same core processes; and that knowledge of these process provides a basis for health promotion interventions to mitigate the risks and maximize the benefits of participation. Throughout, we offer practical guidance as to how policy makers and practitioners should tailor such interventions. Mass gatherings take many forms: large-scale religious pilgrimages (e.g., the hajj), sporting events (e.g., the World Cup), music festivals (e.g., Glastonbury), regional and national commemorative events (e.g., St Patrick's Day celebrations), etc. Some are short-lived, others span days, even weeks. Some attract a few thousand, others, hundreds of thousands. Perhaps the most striking of all are the Kumbh Mela and the Magh Mela, each of which attract millions of Hindu pilgrims to the banks of the Ganga (north India) for a full month (Buzinde, Kalavar,

Measuring the impact of suspending Umrah, a global mass gathering in Saudi Arabia on the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The risk of disease transmission during global mass gatherings particularly, is mainly associated with three factors, social mixing, travel patterns, and the heterogeneity of the population of attendees and local residents of the host nation (Abubakar et al. 2012 ; Hopkins and Reicher 2020 ). The social mixing of a large number of people attending these events in confined settings for extended periods of time facilitate the disease spread among participants.…”

Epidemiological Risk Factors for Acquiring Severe COVID-19: Prospective Cohort Study

“… 26 , 27 Some of the other factors that influence transmission in settings of mass gatherings include prevalence and transmission pattern of COVID-19 in the community, the extent and duration of social interactions, and the demographic profile of participants. 23 , 28 …”

Future research avenues to facilitate social connectedness and safe collective behavior at organized crowd events

“…One area that underpins this issue is attendee perception of risk and subsequent health behaviors. Previous research suggests that we may perceive ingroup members as posing less risk to us than those outside our group, which can lead to engagement in risk-taking behavior (for a detailed summary seeHopkins & Reicher, 2020; Hopkins et al, 2019). This is a particular consideration during the COVID-19 pandemic since attendees must be vigilant to risks to keep one another safe and common activities that may ordinarily have been expected as part of the event (e.g., chanting) could now increase the likelihood of virus spread.…”

“…Another reason that crowd members may engage in risk-taking is because they are acting in line with expected social norms at the event (Hopkins & Reicher, 2020). Groups have normative behaviors that they expect to enact at collective events (Stott et al, 2001) and performing these behaviors demonstrates group membership to others, can be encouraged by others, and is an important part of enjoying the events (Hopkins et al, 2019).…”

“…Hopkins and Reicher (2016, 2020) argue that there are both positive and negative consequences of participating in crowd events. This is particularly true during COVID-19.…”