British Psychological Society Division of Counselling Psychology Annual Conference 2013 A...

British Psychological Society Division of Counselling Psychology Annual Conference 2013

A Phenomenological Analysis of How Aid Workers Engage Meaning to Sustain Resilience

Christina Montaiuti, PhDWalden University, USA

Christina Montaiuti PhD

Why?

The risks to the welfare of aid workers are a recurring contemporary problem faced by aid organizations

Aid workers are at risk of suffering negative psychological consequences because of hazards of repeated exposure to critical stress and physical illness

This study aimed to understand

how aid organizations can bolster the resilience of aid personnel from a perspective across cultures

How to better counsel individuals who are working on the front lines of humanitarian/peacekeeping operations


Social Change

Social change was supported by illuminating how resilience might be sustained within this occupational cohort

Discernment of how aid workers maintain resilience may help reinforce organizational policies that support personal and professional satisfaction, consequently allowing for an increase in the performance of aid workers

Aid workers whose performance is sustained may, in turn, help relieve the human suffering of those in need of aid


Research Design


Why Phenomenology? Why Resilience?

I am an aid worker

The ethics of counselling/phenomenology?

Operational Definition of Resilience

Resilience as the ability to preserve meaningful social interactions and to conserve an aptitude for responding to the interests of others operationalised as maintaining professional

and life satisfaction


Target Population/Sample

- Purposely selected criterion sample of 10 participants across the globe with a minimum of 4 years of work in remote or dangerous duty stations volunteered in pursuing the meaning of resilience- Related their perceptions on the meaning of their professional efforts, the link between that meaning and their resilience in terms of personal and professional satisfaction, and their relationship with their respective organizations.

- While exploring relationship between resilience, meaning, and the coping process of meaning-making.


Research Questions

RQ 1: What are the lived experiences and perceptions of aid workers who currently work or have worked in difficult geopolitical settings?

RQ 2: What does it mean to be an aid worker, and what is the shared experience of meaning making in terms of their resilience understood as their perceptions of their personal and professional life satisfaction?

RQ 3: How do aid workers interpret their relationship with their organization, and how do they perceive that their experiences could be used to support the resilience of aid workers in aid and relief organizations?


Study Design

Phenomenological qualitative design Empirical understanding of aid workers in telling their stories

of resilience with the goal of promoting social justice

To understand a shared phenomenon among a group of people with similar experiences

Three levels of meaning


Three Levels of Meaning

Meaning (shared meaning) Phenomenology. Content Analysis assisted in understanding of the meanings behind physical messages about how the respondents view the social world

Existential meaning: It includes both mental representations of things that connect with one another through a dynamic cognitive and emotional process, and a sense of self in which cognitive representations give significance to an individual’s existence (Park, 2010)

Meaning making (as a ‘means’ to address grief and trauma)


Meaning Making Schemata (Park, 2010)


Materials and Methods

Data collected

Personal lived experiences of participants

Follow up analysis with regard to the topic

Verified transcribed documents reviewed by the participants


Trustworthiness

Criteria for Judging Qualitative

Research

Measures of Validity and

Reliability

Traditional Criteria for Judging

Quantitative Research

Credibility Triangulation, member checking,

reflexivity, bracketing

Internal validity

(Accuracy)

Transferability Prolonged engagement, thick

description

External validity

(Generalizability)

Dependability Triangulation, audit trail Reliability

Confirmability Coding, checking rechecking, data

audit

Objectivity


Data Analysis

Data were collected of the individualized textural descriptions, were subsequently member checked, and then arranged by clustering and thematizing the core themes of the collective experience.

A thorough analysis and elucidation of raw data with regard to the perceptions and lived experiences of the participants

Themes, words, and recurring ideas were coded through NVivo v10.0


Thematic Analysis


Results


Themes

Fourteen themes emerged from the interview protocol (Conforming and non-conforming data)

Themes 1-5 addressed the lived experiences and perceptions of aid workers who currently work have worked in difficult geopolitical setting.

Themes 6-8 explained what it means to be an aid worker and the shared experiences of meaning making in terms of the respondent’s resilience understood as their perceptions of their personal and professional life satisfaction and in relationship to danger encountered on the job.

Themes 9-14 explained how aid workers interpret their relationship with their organization and perceive that their experiences could be used to support the resilience of aid workers in aid and relief organizations.


Results for RQ1

What are the lived experiences and perceptions of aid workers who currently work or have worked in difficult geopolitical settings?

Theme 1. Perceived meaning of life is derived from others

Theme 2. Practices to stay resilient are intrinsic

Theme 3. Sources of resiliency are from personal background

Theme 4. Coping with difficult life situations is to resolve it

Theme 5. Aid work provides meaning by transforming lives


Results for RQ2

What does it mean to be an aid worker, and what is the shared experience of meaning making in terms of their resilience understood as their perceptions of their personal and professional life satisfaction?

Theme 5: Aid work provides meaning by transforming lives

Theme 6: Aid work leads to satisfaction because it provides opportunities to appreciate own life and help family

Theme 7: Direct contact with aid beneficiaries is helpful/meaning

Theme 8: Critical events may lead to positive long-term effects/lack of meaning


Results for RQ3

How do aid workers interpret their relationship with their organization, and how do they perceive that their experiences could be used to support the resilience of aid workers in aid and relief organizations?

Theme 9: Most difficult aspect of aid work is dealing with diverse people and its politics/meaning

Theme 10: Aid work provides meaning by transforming lives

Theme 11: Cultural, ethnic or national origins can positively shape the aid workers’ resilience

Theme 12: Professional ethics shape resilience/meaning

Theme 13: Inadequate HR practices is the greatest problem of aid workers

Theme 14: To improve the resilience of aid workers by being more aware of workers' needs Christina Montaiuti PhD

Conclusions


Counselling Aid Workers

Some of the issues facing humanitarian staff in light of divergent cultural background

Ethics and boundaries (our ethics/AW boundaries)

This study revealed Ethical standards are intrinsic protective factors and recommendations for ways in which counsellors can support aid workers’ resilience

The importance of meaning (for CBT -). purpose and meaning in life, moral understanding of suffering and sacrifice, family support, faith in a personal God, pervious coping with trauma, commitment to the cause, political willingness, social activism, and solidarity movements.


Discussion

Understanding their resilience

Being aware of culture

Is resilience a choice?

Social support. the importance of social interactions and family or close relationships in resilient strategies the positive impact of direct contact with beneficiaries when on stress.


Limitations

This study is not meant to be exhaustive of all aspects of aid work.

Small sample size does not represent the population as a whole.

The culture and life experiences of the researcher and how these affected the research.

Personal biases can also affect the results of the study.

The results of the study may not be generalized to all counterparts.


Recommendations

Further research could elaborate on the differences in resilience based on Hofstede’s (2007) cultural differentiations

Further studies should apply the study on a gender-balance exploration of the resilience of aid workers

Future studies may consider a higher number of participants since saturation may not be as evident with participants from different national and cultural backgrounds

Future studies can test whether educating the volunteers or professional aid workers on the ethics and values of the organization can improve the resiliency of the volunteers


Summary

Resilience of aid worker is a complex phenomenon involving both personal qualities and decisions, and organizational commitment.

The resilience of aid workers is a dynamic force guided by social resilience, personal and cultural uniqueness, and organizational support

It is important that organizations take heed of security restrictions that limits the contact with beneficiaries

Given the steady increase in violence against aid workers resilience against critical incidents and the meaning tied to a particular mission are important aspects of the resilience of aid workers and should be further investigated.


British Psychological Society Division of Counselling Psychology Annual Conference 2013 A...

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