Ensure Social and Healthcare Integration in Crisis Situations. The Case of the 2016 Earthquake in the Marche Region

In the field of healthcare, the tendency to seek organizational models based on the integration of all social and healthcare services emerges, as demonstrated by the WHO guidelines. In the Italian healthcare system, this has led to the creation of local integration systems that involve the definition of protocols and formal relationships between centers that provide social and healthcare services.

Catastrophic events, such as earthquakes or floods, cause rapid and unexpected changes that undermine the planned structure of the inter-organizational structure. Existing network configurations must quickly adapt to the new situation.

Our work presents the results of a study involving ASUR (Azienda Sanitaria Unica Regionale) Marche in the province of Ascoli Piceno, which was hit by the 2016 earthquake, and the University of Urbino Carlo Bo, aimed at studying the evolution of the structure of the inter-organisational network linking the centres involved in providing social welfare services in the field of mental health, as a consequence of the seismic event.

The analysis was carried out using Social Network Analysis based on data from both databases and semi-structured interviews. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted to investigate the meaning and context of social relationships within the network.

The results show that in emergency situations the network adapts and becomes denser. The evolution of the network depends both on how these external pressures are received by individual actors, and on contingent situations, such as geographical location and available resources.