Whole-of-government crisis communication coherence and psychosocial well-being: A systematic review

In the contemporary era, whole-of-government coherence in crisis communication has become one of the key factors contributing to higher public trust and collective resilience, especially during emergencies. To address fragmented evidence base and improve practical transferability, this review employs an integrative thematic synthesis rather than statistical meta-analysis to identify coordination– coherence mechanisms that can stabilise psychosocial well-being during crises. In the current review, peer-reviewed articles retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science and published from 2023 to 2025, on how the psychological well-being of citizens shaped by inter-agency coordination and communication coherence were synthesised by referring to PRISMA 2020 guidelines. As a result, 24 out of 504 identified articles were subject to integrative thematic synthesis. Crises in the current context include humanitarian issues, natural hazards, pandemics, and operational resilience, and psychological well-being has often been operationalised as vulnerability, perceived control, trust, or resilience. There were three main themes discovered, namely, (1) whole-of-government coordination as a key antecedent of coherence in communication and lower uncertainty, (2) digital and hybrid information settings as the tests of institutional stress for trust and correction abilities, and (3) last-mile governance and information equity as the mechanisms of psychosocial protection for underprivileged communities. Accordingly, the results supported the development of an integrative model, which positioned coherence in governance, including governmental communication, as a key determinant of psychological well-being during a crisis. Thus, effective crisis communication requires a higher level of coordination, equity, and digital adaptability to help safeguard the psychological well-being of citizens.