As humans, we depend on care from birth, and we journey through life as recipients as well as providers of care. Collective crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and personal hardships such as mental illness tend to exacerbate our needs for care, and we often rely on others to cope and recover. This research project advances a micro-sociological understanding of the reciprocal processes of caring arrangements, as enacted through social interactions situated in local contexts.
Our research produces new knowledge about the co-production of care and recovery enacted across public welfare sectors, NGOs and informal civil society in Denmark. The project encompasses two tracks of research: Track 1 focuses on the co-production of care during collective crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, while track 2 studies the co-production of recovery in the wake of personal hardship related to mental illness.