The development of individual and neighbourhood social capital and their effects on health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic

The detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are unequally distributed between communities and individuals.

Accessibility to networks, trust and social cohesion, i.e., social capital, which were affected by preventive measures such as social distancing, could contribute to these inequalities.

The project runs in Umeå municipality in Northern Sweden, where social capital surveys were conducted in 46 neighbourhoods in 2006 and 2020, just before the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Sweden. This infrastructure allows us to assess the bidirectional relationship between social capital and COVID-19.

More specifically, the project will:Repeat the cross-sectional survey in 2023 to assess the development of neighbourhood social capital before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to investigate if vaccination uptake and attitudes towards preventive measures differ between neighbourhoods with different social capital profiles.Follow up the 2020 cohort in 2023 (n=5800) to analyse the effects of individual social capital on physical and mental health and COVID-19 outcomes during the pandemic, across population sub-groups.Conduct in-depth interviews (in 2024-2025) to explore how preventive measures were perceived and complied with by different social groups.The project builds further on our long-term research-to-practise collaboration with Umeå municipality and will contribute to knowledge that can be used by the authorities to improve society’s crisis preparedness.