Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated measures have impacted the health of many. Not all population groups are equally vulnerable to such health effects, possibly increasing health inequalities. We performed a group concept mapping procedure to define a common, context-specific understanding of what makes people vulnerable to health effects of the pandemic and the measures. We organized a two-step, blended brainstorming session with locally involved community members, using the brainstorm focus prompt ‘What I think makes people vulnerable for the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures is…’. We asked participants to generate as many statements as possible. Participants then individually structured (sorted and ranked) these statements. The structuring data was analysed using the groupwisdomTM software and then interpreted by the researchers to generate the concept map. Ninety-eight statements were generated by 19 participants. Sixteen participants completed both structuring tasks. The final concept map consisted of 12 clusters of vulnerability factors, indicating a broad conceptualization of vulnerability during the pandemic. It is being used as a basis for future research and local supportive interventions. Concept mapping is an effective method to arrive at a vulnerability assessment in a community in a short time and, moreover, a method that promotes community engagement.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated measures impact and will likely continue to impact the physical, mental and social health of many [1,2,3]
We describe a concept mapping procedure to define a common understanding of what makes people vulnerable to the health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated measures, thereby integrating the knowledge and views of citizens, professionals and researchers in the cities of Utrecht and Zeist in the Netherlands
Apart from the value it has for further risk reduction activities in the locality of the Utrecht region, our study shows that concept mapping is an effective and costeffective method to arrive at a vulnerability assessment in a community in a short time
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated measures impact and will likely continue to impact the physical, mental and social health of many [1,2,3]. Not everyone is vulnerable to such health effects. When it comes to the disease itself, we know that the elderly and people with underlying conditions are more at risk for a severe course of COVID-19 and death [8,9], while people with a migration background have a two times higher risk of being infected with the virus than people without a migration background [10]. The impact of the pandemic and the measures can be severe for those who are most vulnerable [11,12]; they are at risk for the social and health consequences, both direct and indirect, of the COVID-19 crisis.
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