It is easy to dismiss the significance of humanitarian worker stress: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." But a growing number of studies have documented the negative emotional consequences for staff of exposure to stressors—from long hours and chronic fear to involvement in gruesome tragedy. One recent study of returned expatriate staff from five humanitarian agencies found that approximately one-third of those surveyed reported at least moderate symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, one-fifth reported "emotional exhaustion," and many others "general manifestations of sadness." In the short term, these stressors can leave humanitarian workers feeling stressed out, overwhelmed, or chronically fatigued. In the long term, they can have more serious effects, such as burnout, paralyzing anxiety or depression, compassion fatigue, over-involvement or over-identification with beneficiary populations, interpersonal conflict with co-workers or family members, and post-traumatic stress syndromes.
Staff stress and burnout, in turn, have an adverse impact on the ability of the humanitarian agency to provide direct services to those they seek to help. Workers suffering from the adverse effects of stress are less effective in carrying out their assigned tasks. They become poor decision makers and they may behave in ways that disrupt activities or place themselves or other team members at risk. From the standpoint of the humanitarian agency itself, staff stress and burnout may impede recruitment and retention of qualified staff, increase absenteeism and health care utilization and costs, and create legal liabilities. Field staff may start to feel unmotivated or become indifferent to beneficiaries' suffering, while their work may begin to feel pointless to them. As a result, "stressed-out" humanitarian workers are likely to become less efficient in carrying out their assigned tasks.
Given the far-reaching implications of negative stress in humanitarian workers, it would seem logical for humanitarian agencies to engage in systematic efforts to reduce staff stress. Part of your success as a manager may result from your willingness to foster an environment in which staff are encouraged to seek help in coping with stress before it becomes overwhelming for them and those around them. The links in this section provide tools to help you learn about the effects of stress and how to protect your staff members against them. There are also resources such as questionnaires to help assess stress levels in yourself and your staff.
If you're interested in a more interactive approach to understanding stress, check out these two resources. "Insights into the Concept of Stress" is a workbook that walks the reader through a course aimed at helping managers and aid workers identify and understand stress. "Stress Management in Disasters" is a terrific accompanying workbook which focuses on dealing with stress in disasters and traumatic situations. There is information on both critical incident stress and cumulative stress.
This guide is focused on stress management in humanitarian emergencies with particular reference to those serving in the field as managers and team leaders. There is information on both critical incident stress and cumulative stress.
This tool offers an instructive lesson on how an organization can contribute to lessening the stress levels of its field staff. Leadership styles, teambuilding, policies, and practices all contribute to how well you support your staff. Click through this Powerpoint presentation to learn how to operationalize these philosophies.
At last, a resource exclusively devoted to the topic of resilience! Browse this website for research and readings on resilience, and find opportunities to attend trainings on subjects related to resilience and positive behavioral change.
This resiliency quiz gives a good estimate of a person's ability to "bounce back." It allows the test-taker to evaluate the different support systems and coping mechanisms that they use, and to take a closer look at their own qualities that contribute to resilience. This quiz is appropriate for many settings: use it while screening a new recruit, take it yourself, or make it available in the office for your current staff members.
This link will bring you to a list of brief but thorough information sheets on topics including Resilience, Traumatic and Cumulative Stress, Tools to Cope with Stress, Depression, Compassion Fatigue, and Coping Mechanisms.
Melles offers a deeper look into the type cumulative stress that field workers often experience. Her discussion includes the impact of stress on field workers' lives, distinct ways that different cultures cope with cumulative stress, and how managers can recognize the symptoms and help.
Get a reading on the stress level of your staff. This anonymous questionnaire was designed by Catholic Relief Services as a tool find out more about staff needs. Use the questions listed as a starting point and adapt the quiz to your organization or ask more questions about the specific information you're seeking.
It's important for you to support your staff in taking care of their health, not only during critical events, but every day during their tenure. In addition, it's important to help offer them ways of taking care of themselves upon re-entry. This document offers a guide to simple ways of caring for one's physical and mental health; how to recognize normal symptoms of critical incident stress; and ways to decompress once the assignment is complete.
The audio clips available on the ICRC website are part of a model program developed by Dr. Bierens de Haan, an ICRC psychiatrist. The program is aimed to provide psychological support for humanitarian staff working in conflict zones. This audio clip is 58 minutes long and discusses humanitarian action in conflict areas (Who is concerned? What is it? What can be done about it?). The accompanying 29-minute clip discusses the key role of management in dealing with stress.
This report describes the findings and recommendations resulting from an investigation into the support and management provided to workers in relief and development. Methods included a survey of 200 returned workers and discussions with employing agencies.
CARE's security and safety manual assembles the best available information on how to work safely in today's humanitarian environment, and discusses policies, assessments, planning, and fundamental safety and security procedures. Follow the link to Chapter 7 to find material devoted to the sources of stress, stress indicators, and ways to prevent stress.
The Headington Institute has established a learning center to provide valuable resources on psychological and spiritual support for humanitarian aid and disaster relief personnel worldwide. When you visit the learning center, you'll find articles that are geared specifically toward stress in the field, as well as links to additional resources that are useful for managers, field workers, office workers, and family members. Also, be sure to browse the concise and helpful tip sheets for self-care.
This article takes a realistic look at why people want to do relief work, what it takes to do the job, and what type of person the agencies are looking for. Does the applicant have "experience," and what does that mean? Is the applicant resilient and how does one screen for that?
How does stress impact human functioning? What are the signs of burnout? What steps can be taken to reduce the effect of stress and strain? How does this research affect the practicalities of everyday humanitarian work? In this book, the answers to these questions are presented along with real stories, a series of checklists, stress indicators, and burnout monitors to track the well-being of all workers. The link above leads to purchase options.
Chapter 4 of this guidebook discusses the causes and consequences of stress for field staff and lays out a strategy for reducing stress. The Resources section contains scripts for relaxation exercises. The link above leads to an outline of the book and purchase options.
The book is prefaced by a helpful foreword by Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Mr. Annan's comments are followed by 36 chapters on stress factors for peacekeepers, aid workers, and media personnel. There are some excellent research studies and reviews on stress among the military as well as among aid workers. And there are also some chapters on organizational approaches to stress reduction, human resource development, and in general, what life is really like for those who cross cultural boundaries to serve fellow human beings in need. The link above leads to purchase options and a chance to read the book's introduction.
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