ABSTRACT

Background: During times of crisis, mayors may play an important role as public leaders and providers of social support to affected residents. However, empirical studies have not yet been conducted among the involved mayors about the support they provide and the factors associated with it.

Objective: The aim is to examine the support the mayors provided to the affected residents during crises and to test the possible determinants of this support.

Method: A web-based survey developed for this study, including a modified version of the Social Support Survey, was filled by 266 Dutch mayors (response = 66.5%), of whom 231 were involved in at least one crisis in their community in the past five years. We examined the association between the perceived support provided by the mayors and their years of experience, demographics, municipality size, and assessment of the collective impact of the crisis and their own political responsibility. Moreover, we tested the probability of mayoral home visits based on the same factors as well as loss of life.

Results: All of the involved Dutch mayors reported providing support, which varied from lending a listening ear to discussing public ceremonies and remembrances with the affected and their families. The mayors’ age, sex, municipality size, and years of experience were not significantly related to the perceived social support provision or willingness to reach out to affected citizens. Apart from fatalities linked to the crisis, none of the factors tested had a significant effect on the probability of mayors making home visits.

Conclusion: Mayors are likely to report positively on how they provided social support to residents during crises regardless of the factors considered. Mayors are most likely to conduct home visits in situations where none or more citizens died. Further validation and replication of the social support measurement instrument is needed.

摘要

背景：在危机时期，市长作为公共领导者和向受影响居民提供社会支持的提供者可能发挥重要作用。然而，有关市长提供的支持及其相关因素尚未在相关市长中进行实证研究。

目的：目的是检查市长在危机期间向受影响居民提供的支持，并测试这种支持的可能决定因素。

方法: 为这项研究开发的基于网络的调查，包括社会支持调查的修改版本，由 266 名荷兰市长填写（答复 = 66.5%），其中 231 人在他们的社区中至少卷入了一次危机过去五年。我们研究了市长提供的感知支持与他们多年的经验、人口统计数据、城市规模以及对危机的集体影响和他们自己的政治责任的评估之间的关联。此外，我们根据相同的因素以及生命损失测试了市长家访的可能性。

结果：所有参与的荷兰市长都报告说提供了支持，从倾听到与受影响者及其家人讨论公共仪式和纪念活动不一而足。市长的年龄、性别、城市规模和经验年限与感知的社会支持提供或接触受影响公民的意愿没有显着相关性。除了与危机有关的死亡人数外，所测试的所有因素都没有对市长进行家访的可能性产生重大影响。

结论：无论考虑的因素如何，市长都可能会积极报告他们在危机期间如何向居民提供社会支持。在没有或更多公民死亡的情况下，市长最有可能进行家访。需要进一步验证和复制社会支持测量工具。