Can group‐based strategies increase community resilience? Longitudinal predictors of sustained participation in Covid‐19 mutual aid and community support groups

Abstract

Mutual aid groups have been a critical part of the Covid-19 response and continue to address the needs of people in their communities. To understand how mutual aid and similar community support groups can be sustained over time, we test the idea that using group-based strategies, such as interacting with other organizations, initiates psychological trajectories that shape future participation. We conducted a pre-registered longitudinal survey among Covid-19 mutual aid and community support volunteers in the UK (nWave 1 = 600, May 2021;nWave2 = 299, July-August, 2021). Assessments included measures of group-based strategies, collective participation predictors (e.g., sense of community responsibility), participation experience (e.g., positive affect), and sustained participation. Volunteers engaged in a wide range of support activities including shopping, emotional support provision, and deliveries. Two group-based strategies – group alliances and group horizontality – longitudinally predicted sustained participation. In addition, sense of community responsibility and burnout were longitudinal predictors of sustained participation. Importantly, predictors of sustained participation diverged for volunteers with different levels of volunteering experience. Our findings highlight group-based strategies as a potential resource for organizers. Use can be tailored depending on the profiles of individual Covid-19 mutual aid volunteers. These findings have significance beyond Covid-19 as they are relevant to sustaining community resilience more generally.