More Than a COVID-19 Response: Sustaining Mutual Aid Groups During and Beyond the Pandemic

Abstract

Mutual aid groups have been an indispensable part of the public response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have provided many forms of support, in particular grocery shopping which has enabled people to self-isolate if required. While community solidarity during emergencies and disasters is common, previous studies have shown that such solidarity behaviors tend to decline over time, even when needs remain high. In this study, we address how mutual aid groups can be sustained over time in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted 32 interviews with organizers of COVID-19 mutual aid and community support groups in the United Kingdom between September 2020 and January 2021. Based on a reflexive thematic analysis, we identified several community and group level experiences and strategies that were related to sustained participation in COVID-19 mutual aid groups. Meeting community needs over time with localized action and resources and building trust and community-based alliances were foundational elements in the COVID-19 mutual aid groups. Group processes strategies, such as a culture of care and support and regular group meetings, were used to help to sustain involvement. Some experiences resulting from participation in COVID-19 mutual aid groups were also related to sustained participation, including positive emotions (e.g., joy, pride), well-being and sense of efficacy, and an increasing sense of local community belonging and cohesion. Based on these findings, we propose four practical recommendations for sustaining mutual aid groups to assist public engagement with protective behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. We recommend providing practical and financial support to COVID-19 mutual aid groups; to mobilize the knowledge and the experiences acquired by COVID-19 mutual aid groups for developing programs and interventions for addressing the medium and long-term impacts of COVID-19; to prioritize community-level interventions; and to recognize the role of group processes as these have the potential to lead to long-term community responses. These approaches will be key for ensuring that communities effectively recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rehearsing post‐Covid‐19 citizenship: Social representations of UK Covid‐19 mutual aid

“…The majority of participants were also those who had been involved in supporting other individuals and had not themselves received mutual aid. Given that previous qualitative studies on Covid‐19 mutual aid have also drawn upon interviews with organizers (Fernandes‐Jesus et al, 2021 ; Mao et al, 2020 ), future work on mutual aid groups should include participants at different levels of involvement in the group as well as beneficiaries of aid. Second, none of our participants subscribed to an anarchist interpretation of mutual aid, though all were aware of the term's provenance.…”

“…Some of these groups formed at the beginning of the pandemic, while others developed from pre‐existing organizations such as parish councils (Tiratelli & Kaye, 2020 ). Organized generally on a hyper‐local basis and via social media, they fulfilled practical tasks such as grocery shopping and collecting medication, but also provided invaluable emotional support and advice to members of the community, many of whom were struggling with physical and mental health issues as well as an economic disadvantage (Fernandes‐Jesus et al, 2021 ; Jones et al, 2020 ). Without mutual aid groups, vulnerable people would have had to rely on assistance from the local government, which was frequently perceived as too slow or inadequate in its provision (Tiratelli & Kaye, 2020 ).…”

“…Most social psychological research on UK Covid‐19 mutual aid groups to date has applied a social identity approach. Work here has emphasized the importance of group dynamics for sustaining participation in mutual aid groups (Fernandes‐Jesus et al, 2021 ) and has demonstrated the positive impacts that these groups had on the well‐being of their members during the pandemic (Bowe et al, 2021 ; Wakefield et al, 2021 ), with some studies suggesting that these effects were moderated by perceived group politicization ( O'Dwyer, Beascoechea‐Segui, & Souza, í 2021 , Mao et al, 2020 ). Social identity theory has proven a useful theoretical lens with which to explore the phenomenon of Covid‐19 mutual aid, however, this approach has tended to focus on the implications of identification with and participation in mutual aid groups, without exploring the ways in which people understood and enacted mutual aid.…”

Do disasters trigger protests? A conceptual view of the connection between disasters, injustice, and protests—The case of COVID-19

“…Social psychological research emphasizes that in disasters people are more likely to engage in collective action and cooperative behaviors than panic and engage in selfish behaviors (e.g., Grimm et al, 2014;Drury, 2018). Similar patterns have been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, where people join mutual aid groups to help their communities with for example dog-walking, shopping, and other things to facilitate reduction in virus transmission (see Fernandes-Jesus et al, 2021;Mao et al, 2021). Research on collective action in the form of cooperation and mutual aid during and after disasters demonstrates that in disasters a shared fate often develops which facilitates a shared identity to emerge (e.g., Cocking et al, 2009;Drury et al, 2009).…”

Design considerations for a digital service to support prison leavers

“…The idea of centering prison leavers as both the owners and benefciaries of a digital support service shares similarities with the concept of mutual aid, in which self-help groups are formed to meet the needs of marginalised communities [40]. While mutual aid groups tend to develop organically through shared geography and circumstance [23], the dispersion of prison leavers and restrictions on their activities while on parole mean that it is difcult to cultivate peer groups without assistance.…”