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Expressions of Hope(lessness): Exploring the Psychosocial Impacts of COVID-19 on Accommodation Workers in Negril, Jamaica

aUniversity of the West Indies, Jamaica
bUniversity of the West Indies, WI

Pandemics, Disasters, Sustainability, Tourism

ISBN: 978-1-80382-106-1, eISBN: 978-1-80382-105-4

Publication date: 4 August 2022

Abstract

Amid the multitude of economic effects emanating from impositions of COVID-19, workers in the tourism sector are potentially experiencing significant psychosocial impacts. These effects are compounded by the uncertainty of pathways for positive change and the precariousness of adjustments to life and livelihoods. Their attitudes to the newly imposed circumstances are possibly conditioned by a sense of hope which may have implications for their adaptations in the face of sudden or slow change. In this chapter, we argue that one’s sense of hope represents an important component of psychosocial well-being and may even be visualized as a necessary component of adaptation. Hope is conceptualized as a cognitive process that entails thinking and planning in order to achieve proposed goals (Snyder, Irving, & Anderson, 1991; Snyder, Lopez, Shorey, Rand, & Feldman, 2003) and can be operationalized into three core components: goals, pathways, and agency. Based on in-depth interviews and a questionnaire survey administered to former accommodation workers in the Negril tourism industry, this chapter examines expressions of hope(lessness) existing among workers displaced by COVID-19. It potentially provides nuanced understandings of hope as a necessary raw material for adaptation initiatives and explores ways in which a sense of hope could be harnessed in the face of disasters and despair.

Keywords

Citation

Kinlocke, R., Mahabir, A., Smith, R.-A. and Nelson, J. (2022), "Expressions of Hope(lessness): Exploring the Psychosocial Impacts of COVID-19 on Accommodation Workers in Negril, Jamaica", Bethell-Bennett, I., Rolle, S.A., Minnis, J. and Okumus, F. (Ed.) Pandemics, Disasters, Sustainability, Tourism, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 31-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-105-420221003

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022 Robert Kinlocke, Aleem Mahabir, Rose-Ann Smith and Jarda Nelson. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited