The mental health of aid workers: risk and protective factors in relation to job context, working conditions, and demographics.
aid workers
mental health
protective factors
risk factors
Journal
Disasters
ISSN: 1467-7717
Titre abrégé: Disasters
Pays: England
ID NLM: 7702072
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Jul 2021
Jul 2021
Historique:
pubmed:
3
5
2020
medline:
9
9
2021
entrez:
3
5
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
This study utilised a cross-sectional survey of 369 participants in 77 countries to examine 15 possible risk and protective factors pertaining to the mental health of aid workers-many of which have not been assessed before-in the categories of job context, working conditions, and demographics. Risk factors associated with job context include emergency postings and being an international worker. No significant differences were found between humanitarian and development workers and none between organisation type; the number of past traumas was not associated with negative mental health outcomes. Protective factors with regard to working conditions include higher income, long-term contracts, previous psychosocial training, and voluntary postings. With respect to demographics, protective factors include older age, more work experience, and greater religiosity and spirituality, while female gender was a risk factor. Ultimately, this study provides a more nuanced understanding of the aid worker sector, which can inform the development of more targeted mental health support.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
501-526Informations de copyright
© 2020 The Authors Disasters © 2020 Overseas Development Institute.
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