Abstract: Humanitarian crises produce enduring social and existential disruption that extends beyond material loss and psychological distress. Although post-crisis recovery research has emphasized trauma reduction and infrastructure rebuilding, the existential mechanisms that support social renewal remain underexamined. Guided by logotherapy and meaning-making theory, this mixed-methods study investigated existential hope as a mechanism of social recovery in communities emerging from humanitarian crises. A cross-sectional survey of adults from crisis-affected communities (N = 180) examined relationships among collective suffering, existential hope, social cohesion, trust restoration, and future-oriented collective engagement. Pearson correlations indicated that existential hope was positively associated with social cohesion (r = .49, p < .001), trust restoration (r = .44, p < .001), and collective engagement (r = .53, p < .001). Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that existential hope uniquely predicted social cohesion (β = .38, ΔR² = .14), trust restoration (β = .34, ΔR² = .12), and collective engagement (β = .41, ΔR² = .17), after controlling for collective suffering. Mediation analyses using bootstrapped confidence intervals (5,000 resamples) indicated that existential hope partially mediated the relationship between collective suffering and social cohesion (indirect effect = −.18, 95% CI [−.26, −.11]), trust restoration (indirect effect = −.15, 95% CI [−.23, −.08]), and collective engagement (indirect effect = −.21, 95% CI [−.30, −.13]). Qualitative interviews (n = 25) converged with quantitative findings, revealing that shared meaning, responsibility, and future orientation enabled trust rebuilding and collective engagement despite ongoing adversity. Together, the findings provide empirical support for extending logotherapy to the community level and position existential hope as a central mechanism transforming collective suffering into social recovery.
Keywords: existential hope; logotherapy; meaning-making; social recovery; humanitarian crises; collective suffering; social cohesion; trust restoration; mixed-methods.
Title: Existential Hope and Social Recovery: Applying Logotherapy to Communities Emerging from Humanitarian Crises
Author: Dr. David Bull
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
Vol. 14, Issue 1, January 2026 - March 2026
Page No: 1-22
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 05-January-2026
