Strategic Care in Activism: Mental Health Across Scales of Social Change

forthcoming

The current overlapping crises—political polarization, the climate, and security fears—present challenges for mental health and well-being. Engaging in collective action is one way to cope, but research shows it can also be exhausting and increase sensitivity to these problems and injustices. But activism can also foster empowerment and solidarity. Decades of research have provided insights into factors affecting mental health outcomes for activists. However, the traditional linear approach—focused on relationships between factors and outcomes—often fails to capture the mechanisms and dynamic processes that shape outcomes during engagement. Integrating psychological and sociological perspectives, Care2Act will apply a novel interactionist approach to activism and mental health, employing the concept of strategic care to highlight the dual task of regulating personal well-being while caring for the world. Care2Act asks: Which combinations of situations and processes during civic engagement at different problem scales contribute to varying mental health and well-being outcomes, and what strategies do individuals and communities employ to regulate their mental health and well-being? Using a multi-level comparative approach and innovative methods such as participatory Ripple Effects Mapping, Care2Act will analyze: 1) Situations, mechanisms, and actors affecting mental health; 2) Individual and community strategies for regulating well-being while engaging in this often tedious work; 3) The transformation of strategic care across different phases of engagement; and 4) The role of the magnitude of the social problem in shaping mental health outcomes. Care2Act will offer tools for interdisciplinary research that inform studies on public health interventions, political participation more broadly, and the social integration of marginalized groups. It could also have societal impact by providing activists with tools to integrate mental health awareness into their strategies.