Caring for the mental health of humanitarian volunteers in traumatic contexts: the importance of organisational support
Background: Humanitarian workers operate in traumatic contexts, putting them at an increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes. The quality of the support they receive from their organization, their supervisor, and team members are proposed as determinants of mental illness and well-being, via...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2019-12-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Psychotraumatology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1694811 |
| _version_ | 1797954524380397568 |
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| author | Kinan Aldamman Trina Tamrakar Cecilie Dinesen Nana Wiedemann Jamie Murphy Maj Hansen Elsheikh Elsiddig Badr Tracey Reid Frédérique Vallières |
| author_facet | Kinan Aldamman Trina Tamrakar Cecilie Dinesen Nana Wiedemann Jamie Murphy Maj Hansen Elsheikh Elsiddig Badr Tracey Reid Frédérique Vallières |
| author_sort | Kinan Aldamman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Humanitarian workers operate in traumatic contexts, putting them at an increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes. The quality of the support they receive from their organization, their supervisor, and team members are proposed as determinants of mental illness and well-being, via the stress-appraisal process. Objective: Grounded in organizational support theory, we sought to understand the relationship between organizational factors, including perceived organizational support, supervisor support, and team support, and indicators of both adverse mental health and mental well-being among humanitarian volunteers. This relationship is hypothesized to be mediated by the perceived psychological stress. Methods: A sample of 409 humanitarian volunteers from the Sudanese Red Crescent Society completed an online, anonymous, survey comprised of the Perceived Supervision, Perceived Organizational Support, Team Support, and Perceived Psychological Stress scales, as well as the Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Patient Health Questionnaire scales, (GAD-7 and PHQ- 8), and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Study objectives were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) procedures. Results: Perceived helplessness (PH) and perceived self-efficacy (PSE), as measures of psychological stress, were both found to fully mediate the relationship between perceived organizational support and mental health outcomes. Perceived organizational support was associated with PSE and inversely with PH. PH was associated with adverse mental health and inversely related to mental well-being. PSE was only associated with mental well-being. Perceived supervision was negatively associated with PSE. Conclusions: Perceived organizational support is a key determinant of the mental health of humanitarian volunteers, with greater perceived support associated with lower distress symptomology and greater mental well-being. Humanitarian agencies should take actions to improve their internal organization support systems to mitigate the stress associated with working in traumatic contexts. Specifically, more attention should be paid to the organizational support of the volunteers as front-line workers in humanitarian settings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:19:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-86aa7002ec744630a7a7fc642f8f9321 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2000-8066 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:19:58Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Psychotraumatology |
| spelling | doaj.art-86aa7002ec744630a7a7fc642f8f93212023-01-12T15:31:31ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEuropean Journal of Psychotraumatology2000-80662019-12-0110110.1080/20008198.2019.16948111694811Caring for the mental health of humanitarian volunteers in traumatic contexts: the importance of organisational supportKinan Aldamman0Trina Tamrakar1Cecilie Dinesen2Nana Wiedemann3Jamie Murphy4Maj Hansen5Elsheikh Elsiddig Badr6Tracey Reid7Frédérique Vallières8Trinity College DublinUniversity of Southern DenmarkThe IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial SupportThe IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial SupportUlster UniversityUniversity of Southern DenmarkFederal Ministry of HealthThe Police Service of Northern IrelandTrinity College DublinBackground: Humanitarian workers operate in traumatic contexts, putting them at an increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes. The quality of the support they receive from their organization, their supervisor, and team members are proposed as determinants of mental illness and well-being, via the stress-appraisal process. Objective: Grounded in organizational support theory, we sought to understand the relationship between organizational factors, including perceived organizational support, supervisor support, and team support, and indicators of both adverse mental health and mental well-being among humanitarian volunteers. This relationship is hypothesized to be mediated by the perceived psychological stress. Methods: A sample of 409 humanitarian volunteers from the Sudanese Red Crescent Society completed an online, anonymous, survey comprised of the Perceived Supervision, Perceived Organizational Support, Team Support, and Perceived Psychological Stress scales, as well as the Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Patient Health Questionnaire scales, (GAD-7 and PHQ- 8), and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Study objectives were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) procedures. Results: Perceived helplessness (PH) and perceived self-efficacy (PSE), as measures of psychological stress, were both found to fully mediate the relationship between perceived organizational support and mental health outcomes. Perceived organizational support was associated with PSE and inversely with PH. PH was associated with adverse mental health and inversely related to mental well-being. PSE was only associated with mental well-being. Perceived supervision was negatively associated with PSE. Conclusions: Perceived organizational support is a key determinant of the mental health of humanitarian volunteers, with greater perceived support associated with lower distress symptomology and greater mental well-being. Humanitarian agencies should take actions to improve their internal organization support systems to mitigate the stress associated with working in traumatic contexts. Specifically, more attention should be paid to the organizational support of the volunteers as front-line workers in humanitarian settings.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1694811volunteerhumanitarian workersorganizational supportwork-related stresswell-beingmental healthsudanemergency contexts |
| spellingShingle | Kinan Aldamman Trina Tamrakar Cecilie Dinesen Nana Wiedemann Jamie Murphy Maj Hansen Elsheikh Elsiddig Badr Tracey Reid Frédérique Vallières Caring for the mental health of humanitarian volunteers in traumatic contexts: the importance of organisational support European Journal of Psychotraumatology volunteer humanitarian workers organizational support work-related stress well-being mental health sudan emergency contexts |
| title | Caring for the mental health of humanitarian volunteers in traumatic contexts: the importance of organisational support |
| title_full | Caring for the mental health of humanitarian volunteers in traumatic contexts: the importance of organisational support |
| title_fullStr | Caring for the mental health of humanitarian volunteers in traumatic contexts: the importance of organisational support |
| title_full_unstemmed | Caring for the mental health of humanitarian volunteers in traumatic contexts: the importance of organisational support |
| title_short | Caring for the mental health of humanitarian volunteers in traumatic contexts: the importance of organisational support |
| title_sort | caring for the mental health of humanitarian volunteers in traumatic contexts the importance of organisational support |
| topic | volunteer humanitarian workers organizational support work-related stress well-being mental health sudan emergency contexts |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1694811 |
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