Many families must 'dance' their way to COVID-19 survival, study finds


Date:
June 26, 2020
Source:
University of Birmingham
Summary:
Researchers have been studying how families plan ahead and make
decisions about family care and family consumption for a long
time -- but what happens when planning ahead is not possible? When
consumers can't plan ahead, they 'dance'.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Marketing managers and academics have been studying how families plan
ahead and make decisions about family care and family consumption for a
long time -- but what happens when planning ahead is not possible? When consumers can't plan ahead, they 'dance'.


========================================================================== Although there has been a lot of talk about how COVID-19 has 'slowed
down' family life, a new study in the Journal of Marketing Management by researchers at the University of Birmingham (UK), University of Melbourne (Australia) and Adolfo Ibanez University (Chile) argues that this is
not the case for every family.

Dr Pilar Rojas Gaviria, Lecturer in Marketing at the University
of Birmingham, comments: "For many families, life has become more
precarious, anxious, and accelerated. Rather than a combination of
strategic activities and well-planned decisions, we found that when
normality is disrupted abruptly, family care looks more like an intricate improvised 'dance'." Dr Rojas Gaviria and her colleagues note that when
facing unplanned disruptions to family life, such as COVID-19, while
some families may enjoy more free time because they are not commuting,
others face unprecedented situations, such as disrupted careers, caring
for others and suffering from the loss of income.

She comments: "We should avoid assumptions about families being affected
in the same way. Many families are struggling with mental health while
others are coping well. Many have lost friends or family members, others
have not.

"This means that organisations should aim to better understand the needs
of individual employees and their families and think about how they can
support them by acknowledging that these needs are different and that they evolve through time." Particularly, Dr. Rojas Gaviria and her colleagues
found that families who already deal with more intensive care needs --
such as those who have a family member with a chronic health condition
-- must 'dance' their way through unplanned disruptions such as the
COVID-19 crisis.



========================================================================== Families strike a balance between day-to-day routines -- resorting
to what the researchers call 'grounding' activities -- and other more
creative, emotionally-laden and inspirational activities that go well
beyond their daily schedules in order to counter massive disruption to
their everyday life.

In their study of families living with diabetic children, they discovered
how, in the midst of chaos, each family finds its own style to 'dance'
through their life constraints by alternating 'grounding' and 'aerial' activities.

They also found that that this process often occurs instinctively and invisibly, and is usually lead by one family member who "orchestrates" resources and talents at hand to help their family develop its 'dance'.

Dr Rojas Gaviria adds: "In keeping that 'dance' going, it is essential
for the family to balance 'grounding movements' with 'aerial movements'
that soothe, inspire and motivate family members.

"For instance, we saw how, during the COVID-19 lockdown both 'grounding' activities -- such as knitting, gardening and baking -- combined with
'aerial' activities -- like becoming a helping hand in the community,
placing rainbows in the family home's windows, supporting local shops, fisheries and farms, or raising funds for the NHS -- to comfort families
and help them connect to each other, even from a distance." Dr. Rojas
Gaviria argues that there is an untapped need for public policies and
support programmes that can be flexible and adaptable to different moments
and different life circumstances and that aim at enhancing the creative competencies of the families.

"The aim should be helping families gather resources for movement
(energy, time, focus, hope in the future) instead of telling them
how to move by setting very strict rules that not everyone is able to
follow. Designing a diverse set of support tools that can be offered for different circumstances and at different moments in time is a challenge
for our societal systems," she adds.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Birmingham. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Flavia Cardoso, Pilar Rojas-Gaviria, Daiane Scaraboto. Restoring
balance:
how consumers orchestrate family care following unplanned
disruptions.

Journal of Marketing Management, 2020; 1 DOI: 10.1080/
0267257X.2020.1780297 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200626114745.htm

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