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Risk and resilience factors affecting the psychological wellbeing of individuals deployed in humanitarian relief roles after a disaster.
J Ment Health. 2015 Dec; 24(6):385-413.JM

Abstract

BACKGROUND

When disasters occur, humanitarian relief workers frequently deploy to assist in rescue/recovery efforts.

AIMS

To conduct a systematic review of factors affecting the psychological wellbeing of disaster relief workers and identify recommendations for interventions.

METHOD

We searched MEDLINE®, Embase, PsycINFO® and Web of Science for relevant studies, supplemented by hand searches. We performed thematic analysis on their results to identify factors predicting wellbeing.

RESULTS

Sixty-one publications were included. Key themes were: pre-deployment factors (preparedness/training); peri-deployment factors (deployment length/timing; traumatic exposure; emotional involvement; leadership; inter-agency cooperation; support; role; demands and workload; safety/equipment; self-doubt/guilt; coping strategies) and post-deployment factors (support; media; personal and professional growth).

CONCLUSIONS

As well as role-specific stressors, many occupational stressors not specific to humanitarian relief (e.g. poor leadership, poor support) present a significant health hazard to relief workers. Humanitarian organisations should prioritise strengthening relationships between team members and supervisors, and dealing effectively with non-role-specific stressors, to improve the psychological resilience of their workforce.

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Publisher Full Text

Authors+Show Affiliations

Brooks SK
a Department of Psychological Medicine , King's College London , London , UK and.
Dunn R
a Department of Psychological Medicine , King's College London , London , UK and.
Sage CA
a Department of Psychological Medicine , King's College London , London , UK and.
Amlôt R
b Emergency Response Department, Health Protection Directorate, Public Health England, Microbial Risk Assessment and Behavioural Science, Porton Down , Salisbury , Wilts , UK.
Greenberg N
a Department of Psychological Medicine , King's College London , London , UK and.
Rubin GJ
a Department of Psychological Medicine , King's College London , London , UK and.

MeSH

Emergency RespondersHumansRelief WorkResilience, PsychologicalRisk FactorsStress, Psychological

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review
Systematic Review

Language

eng

PubMed ID

26452755

Citation

Brooks, Samantha K., et al. "Risk and Resilience Factors Affecting the Psychological Wellbeing of Individuals Deployed in Humanitarian Relief Roles After a Disaster." Journal of Mental Health (Abingdon, England), vol. 24, no. 6, 2015, pp. 385-413.
Brooks SK, Dunn R, Sage CA, et al. Risk and resilience factors affecting the psychological wellbeing of individuals deployed in humanitarian relief roles after a disaster. J Ment Health. 2015;24(6):385-413.
Brooks, S. K., Dunn, R., Sage, C. A., Amlôt, R., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2015). Risk and resilience factors affecting the psychological wellbeing of individuals deployed in humanitarian relief roles after a disaster. Journal of Mental Health (Abingdon, England), 24(6), 385-413. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638237.2015.1057334
Brooks SK, et al. Risk and Resilience Factors Affecting the Psychological Wellbeing of Individuals Deployed in Humanitarian Relief Roles After a Disaster. J Ment Health. 2015;24(6):385-413. PubMed PMID: 26452755.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Risk and resilience factors affecting the psychological wellbeing of individuals deployed in humanitarian relief roles after a disaster. AU - Brooks,Samantha K, AU - Dunn,Rebecca, AU - Sage,Clara A M, AU - Amlôt,Richard, AU - Greenberg,Neil, AU - Rubin,G James, Y1 - 2015/10/09/ PY - 2015/10/11/entrez PY - 2015/10/11/pubmed PY - 2016/8/20/medline KW - Disaster KW - humanitarian relief KW - mental health KW - psychological impact KW - relief work SP - 385 EP - 413 JF - Journal of mental health (Abingdon, England) JO - J Ment Health VL - 24 IS - 6 N2 - BACKGROUND: When disasters occur, humanitarian relief workers frequently deploy to assist in rescue/recovery efforts. AIMS: To conduct a systematic review of factors affecting the psychological wellbeing of disaster relief workers and identify recommendations for interventions. METHOD: We searched MEDLINE®, Embase, PsycINFO® and Web of Science for relevant studies, supplemented by hand searches. We performed thematic analysis on their results to identify factors predicting wellbeing. RESULTS: Sixty-one publications were included. Key themes were: pre-deployment factors (preparedness/training); peri-deployment factors (deployment length/timing; traumatic exposure; emotional involvement; leadership; inter-agency cooperation; support; role; demands and workload; safety/equipment; self-doubt/guilt; coping strategies) and post-deployment factors (support; media; personal and professional growth). CONCLUSIONS: As well as role-specific stressors, many occupational stressors not specific to humanitarian relief (e.g. poor leadership, poor support) present a significant health hazard to relief workers. Humanitarian organisations should prioritise strengthening relationships between team members and supervisors, and dealing effectively with non-role-specific stressors, to improve the psychological resilience of their workforce. SN - 1360-0567 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/26452755/full_citation L2 - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/09638237.2015.1057334 DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -