Exploring the Mental Health and Well-Being of Humanitarian Aid Workers: a Hybrid Thematic Analysis of the Challenges, Coping Mechanisms, and Support Schemes
Pantotis, Foivos (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025120131250
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025120131250
Tiivistelmä
Humanitarian Aid Workers (HAWs) belong to the category of professionals who respond to crises, natural disasters, conflicts and all kinds of relief missions. They belong to the first responders in these scenes, and being ones, makes them witness traumatic events and intense situations in often insecure, risky and unstable contexts. They must, however, act quickly, isolating their impulsive thoughts and emotions in order to assist those in need properly and efficiently.
With the world facing more and more crises every year, the need for HAWs is increasing proportionally. The research aimed to examine how HAWs experienced the occupational challenges that emerge in this field and the impact these had on their mental health and well-being, while identifying the main stressors, the coping mechanisms that the workers develop and employ, and the available support structures and schemes on behalf of the employer organizations.
The respective data were collected through semi-structured interviews with three identified professional experienced HAWs who had worked across different roles and contexts. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the collected data from the interviews, supported by a sensitizing framework that emerged from applicable literature. The data analysis revealed that the sector of humanitarian aid is a highly demanding field in terms of workload, while also being unstable, unpredictable, and insecure regarding job security. Yet, meaningful and rewarding. Exposure to traumatic and intense events was regular on the accounts of the research participants, and the consequent impact on mental health and well-being included reports of insomnia, burnout, anxiety, general emotional distress, and strain in personal relationships. The coping mechanisms developed and employed by HAWs consisted of adaptive and maladaptive strategies, ranging from peer and family support, to smoking and increased alcohol consumption. Organizational support was reported to be inadequate and inconsistent, often dominated by the work demands and delivery expectations, while hindered by the fear of stigmatization.
The conclusion was that being employed in the field of humanitarian aid, assumed a considerable toll on the mental health and well-being of the workers, despite the increased moral reward. The respective support from the employer organizations that deliver humanitarian aid to the workers was reported to be inadequate, and the suggestions for improvement included the application of realistic workloads, the adoption of preventive and curative measures and policies, the enforcement of awareness-raising initiatives that would combat stigmatization around mental health, and the development and enforcement of cross-sectoral frameworks that will safeguard and prioritize the well-being of the HAWs.
With the world facing more and more crises every year, the need for HAWs is increasing proportionally. The research aimed to examine how HAWs experienced the occupational challenges that emerge in this field and the impact these had on their mental health and well-being, while identifying the main stressors, the coping mechanisms that the workers develop and employ, and the available support structures and schemes on behalf of the employer organizations.
The respective data were collected through semi-structured interviews with three identified professional experienced HAWs who had worked across different roles and contexts. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the collected data from the interviews, supported by a sensitizing framework that emerged from applicable literature. The data analysis revealed that the sector of humanitarian aid is a highly demanding field in terms of workload, while also being unstable, unpredictable, and insecure regarding job security. Yet, meaningful and rewarding. Exposure to traumatic and intense events was regular on the accounts of the research participants, and the consequent impact on mental health and well-being included reports of insomnia, burnout, anxiety, general emotional distress, and strain in personal relationships. The coping mechanisms developed and employed by HAWs consisted of adaptive and maladaptive strategies, ranging from peer and family support, to smoking and increased alcohol consumption. Organizational support was reported to be inadequate and inconsistent, often dominated by the work demands and delivery expectations, while hindered by the fear of stigmatization.
The conclusion was that being employed in the field of humanitarian aid, assumed a considerable toll on the mental health and well-being of the workers, despite the increased moral reward. The respective support from the employer organizations that deliver humanitarian aid to the workers was reported to be inadequate, and the suggestions for improvement included the application of realistic workloads, the adoption of preventive and curative measures and policies, the enforcement of awareness-raising initiatives that would combat stigmatization around mental health, and the development and enforcement of cross-sectoral frameworks that will safeguard and prioritize the well-being of the HAWs.