Salutogenesis in the Corona Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of millions worldwide, causing great uncertainty and anxiety. Although the pandemic is global, it appears each nation has developed its own way of managing the crisis. Employing the salutogenic model (Antonovsky, 1987) we ask how individuals cope with this crisis in an effort to maintain their health and wellbeing. We hypothesized that individual as well as national resources could explain levels of mental health and anxiety. Understanding the contribution of individual and national coping resources to the level of mental health can suggest ways national and global decision-makers might deal with the crisis in a way that promotes health. The individual resources include sense of coherence and social support of family, friends, and virtual contacts. We are especially interested in the individuals’ perception of national resources such as sense of national coherence, trust in governmental institutions, compliance with instructions, and common attitudes towards the Corona virus. Relevant demographic variables (socioeconomic status, gender, religion, political orientation) will be explored. Currently, the study runs in Israel, Netherlands, US, and German speaking countries (Austria, Germany, Switzerland).

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