Introduction.
The number of health crises is increasing, making it imperative to draw lessons from past pandemics. These insights can help strengthen the resilience of societies and individuals, to deal with similar stressful events in the future. Building on the experience with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium, the prospective participatory research, PANDORIX, envisioned developing crisis exit scenarios for future crises.
Methodology.
An exploratory mixed-method approach was used. First, semi-structured interviews were held with citizens including 'specific' groups, organisations, and experts, to explore their representations of the management of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as their representations of potential future crisis management. Next, a quantitative questionnaire study with cluster analysis was performed to investigate citizens' preferences for the crisis management strategies derived from the qualitative study.
Results.
While most participants agreed that humans were responsible for the factors causing pandemics, opinions diverged regarding how crises should be governed, particularly the participation of citizens in the decision-making process for health policies. The study highlighted crisis management preferences associated with behavioural intentions to follow governmental recommendations. Beyond data collection, citizens were involved at various key moments of the study, such as validating scenarios, improving the questionnaire and coauthoring an article. Participants reported that their involvement in a supportive research environment, the exploration of various representations in a non-judgemental atmosphere, helped them to cope with the current situation and to restore their confidence.
Conclusions.
This study underscores the complexity of managing a health crisis and illustrates the fact that there is no single universal solution to deal with such crises, even in a limited territory. Addressing a crisis required an open dialogue considering different scenarios, setting a timeframe that allows for trust to be built. PANDORIX also advocates the implementation of research that reflects the values it promotes.