Health-Care Services as a Platform for Building Community Resilience among Minority Communities: An Israeli Pilot Study during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Odeya Cohen, Alaa Mahagna, Asmaa Shamia and Ortal Slobodin
Additional contact information
Odeya Cohen: Nursing Department, Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Alaa Mahagna: Nursing Department, Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Asmaa Shamia: Nursing Department, Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Ortal Slobodin: Education Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 20, 1-14

Abstract: Background: Previous studies of minority groups in times of emergency have tended to focus on risk reduction or on individual resilience, overlooking the community factors that could be bolstered to promote better health and safety outcomes. The current study aimed to examine the role of health-care services in the perceived community resilience of urban and suburban Arab communities in Israel during the COVID-19 outbreak. Method: The study included 196 adults age 17–76 years, who filled out on-line questionnaires in May 2020; 112 participants lived in an urban community and 84 lived in a suburban community. Community resilience was evaluated using the Conjoint Community Resiliency Assessment Measure (CCRAM), a validated five-factor multidimensional instrument. Results: Residents of the suburban community reported higher community resilience than residents of the urban community. This difference was related to increased preparedness levels and strength of place attachment in the suburban community. Residents of suburban communities were also more satisfied and confident in health-care services than those of urban communities. Regression analysis showed that the satisfaction with primary health-care services, and not community type, significantly predicted community resilience. Conclusions: Our results support the pivotal role of primary health care in building community resilience of minority communities in times of emergency and routine.

Keywords: COVID-19; CCRAM; community resilience; emergency; health-care services; minorities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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