COVID-19, chronic conditions and structural poverty: A social psychological assessment of the needs of a marginalized community in Accra, Ghana

IF 1.8 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL

Journal of Social and Political Psychology Pub Date : 2021-11-25 DOI:10.5964/jspp.7543

A. de-Graft Aikins, O. Sanuade, L. Baatiema, P. Asante, Francis Agyei, V. Asah-Ayeh, Jemima A. O. Okai, Annabella Osei‐Tutu, Kwadwo K. Koram

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

In the African region COVID-19 infection and death rates are increasing (writing in May 2020), most deaths have occurred among individuals with chronic conditions, and poor communities face higher risks of infection and socio-economic insecurities. We assessed the psychosocial needs of a chronic illness support group in Accra, Ghana, within the context of their broader community. The community lives in structural poverty and has a complex burden of infectious and chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Between March and May 2020, we conducted interviews, group discussions, and surveys, with members of the support group and their caregivers, frontline healthcare workers, and religious and community leaders. Data was analysed through the social psychology of participation framework. Community members understood COVID-19 as a new public health threat and drew on eclectic sources of information to make sense of this. Members of the support group had psychosocial and material needs: they were anxious about infection risk as well as money, food and access to NCD treatment. Some community members received government food packages during the lockdown period. This support ended after lockdown in April and while anti-poverty COVID policies have been unveiled they have yet to be implemented. We discuss the impact of these representational, relational and power dynamics on the community’s access to COVID-19 and NCD support. We argue that strategies to address immediate and post-COVID needs of vulnerable communities have to focus on the politics and practicalities of implementing existing rights-based policies that intersect health, poverty reduction and social protection.

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新冠肺炎、慢性病和结构性贫困：对加纳阿克拉边缘化社区需求的社会心理评估

在非洲区域，COVID-19的感染率和死亡率正在上升(2020年5月)，大多数死亡发生在慢性病患者中，贫困社区面临更高的感染风险和社会经济不安全。我们评估了加纳阿克拉一个慢性病支持团体在其更广泛社区背景下的社会心理需求。社区生活在结构性贫困中，并承受着传染病和慢性非传染性疾病的复杂负担。2020年3月至5月期间，我们对支持小组成员及其护理人员、一线医护人员以及宗教和社区领袖进行了访谈、小组讨论和调查。通过参与社会心理学框架对数据进行分析。社区成员将COVID-19理解为一种新的公共卫生威胁，并利用各种信息来源来理解这一点。支持小组的成员有社会心理和物质需求:他们对感染风险以及金钱、食物和获得非传染性疾病治疗感到焦虑。一些社区成员在封锁期间收到了政府的食品包裹。这种支持在4月封锁后结束，虽然反贫困政策已经公布，但尚未实施。我们将讨论这些代表性、关系和权力动态对社区获得COVID-19和非传染性疾病支持的影响。我们认为，解决弱势社区当前和疫情后需求的战略必须关注实施现有基于权利的政策的政治和实用性，这些政策与健康、减贫和社会保护相结合。

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来源期刊

Journal of Social and Political Psychology Social Sciences-Sociology and Political Science

CiteScore

2.70

自引率

4.80%

发文量

审稿时长

40 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Social and Political Psychology (JSPP) is a peer-reviewed open-access journal (without author fees), published online. It publishes articles at the intersection of social and political psychology that substantially advance the understanding of social problems, their reduction, and the promotion of social justice. It also welcomes work that focuses on socio-political issues from related fields of psychology (e.g., peace psychology, community psychology, cultural psychology, environmental psychology, media psychology, economic psychology) and encourages submissions with interdisciplinary perspectives. JSPP is comprehensive and integrative in its approach. It publishes high-quality work from different epistemological, methodological, theoretical, and cultural perspectives and from different regions across the globe. It provides a forum for innovation, questioning of assumptions, and controversy and debate. JSPP aims to give creative impetuses for academic scholarship and for applications in education, policymaking, professional practice, and advocacy and social action. It intends to transcend the methodological and meta-theoretical divisions and paradigm clashes that characterize the field of social and political psychology, and to counterbalance the current overreliance on the hypothetico-deductive model of science, quantitative methodology, and individualistic explanations by also publishing work following alternative traditions (e.g., qualitative and mixed-methods research, participatory action research, critical psychology, social representations, narrative, and discursive approaches). Because it is published online, JSPP can avoid a bias against research that requires more space to be presented adequately.