Health trajectories of international humanitarian aid workers: growth mixture modelling findings from a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Most staff stay healthy during humanitarian work, although some worsen. Mean scores on health indicators may be masking individual participants struggling with health issues. AIMS: To investigate different field assignment-related health trajectories among international humanitarian aid workers (iHAWs) and explore the mechanisms used to stay healthy. METHOD: Growth mixture modelling analyses for five health indicators using pre-/post-assignment and follow-up data. RESULTS: Among 609 iHAWs three trajectories (profiles) were found for emotional exhaustion, work engagement, anxiety and depression. For post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, four trajectories were identified. The 'healthy/normative' trajectory had the largest sample size for all health indicators (73-86%). A stable (moderate) 'ill health' trajectory was identified for all health indicators (7-17%), except anxiety. An 'improving' trajectory was found for PTSD and anxiety symptoms (5-14%). A minority of staff (4-15%) worsened on all health indicators. Deterioration continued for PTSD, depressive symptoms and work engagement 2 months post-assignment. A strong sense of coherence was associated with higher odds of belonging to the 'healthy' trajectory. Female biological sex was associated with higher odds of belonging to the 'worsening' depression and anxiety trajectories. Extended duration of field assignment was related to higher odds of belonging to the 'worsening' depressive symptoms trajectory. CONCLUSIONS: Most iHAWs stayed healthy during their assignment; a stable 'ill health' trajectory was identified for most health indicators. Sense of coherence is an important mechanism for understanding the health of all iHAWs in the different health trajectories, including the 'healthy' profile. These findings give new possibilities to develop activities to prevent worsening health and help strengthen iHAWs' ability to remain healthy under stress.

Incidence and Severity of Sexual Harassment, and its Impact on Mental Health in a Cohort of International Humanitarian Field-Workers.

To date, there have been no cohort studies of sexual harassment incidence and its relation to mental health within humanitarian field-workers. Research among numerous occupations suggests an association between workplace sexual harassment and several health complaints. This study examined the incidence and severity of sexual harassment and its association with changes in mental health in a cohort of international humanitarian aid field-workers (iHAWs). Four hundred and seventy-eight iHAWs filled in questionnaires about sexual harassment, depression, anxiety, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as part of a larger study on health and well-being. Six percent of male and 18% of female iHAWs reported experiencing sexual harassment during their latest field assignment, with most reporting low levels of nonphysical forms of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment was predictive of negative changes in both depression and anxiety symptom severity between before and after an assignment for females; for males, it predicted negative changes in PTSD symptom severity. Sexual harassment did not predict utilization of mental healthcare services within 2 months after the end of assignment. The current findings are the first figures derived from a representative sample of iHAWs on the incidence of sexual harassment during a field assignment and show sexual harassment to be a relatively common and present issue. The findings are mostly in line with the extant literature and underscore the importance of attending to the issue of sexual harassment in the humanitarian sector.

Treatment response and treatment response predictors of a multidisciplinary day clinic for police officers with PTSD.

OBJECTIVE: Police officers typically face multiple potentially traumatic events and consequently have a higher conditional probability of developing PTSD. Although most police officers with PTSD benefit from first-line treatment, it is unknown whether recommended intensification of treatment for low responders is effective and which factors contribute to response. This study aimed to examine the treatment response of a day clinic for police officers with PTSD and identify predictors of treatment response. METHOD: Between 2009 and 2019, routine outcome monitoring measurements consisting of PTSD symptom severity and general psychological distress were administered at two timepoints among 102 patients undergoing a day clinic treatment consisting of trauma-focused therapy, sociotherapy, and psychomotor therapy. Hierarchical regression was used to assess whether change in PTSD symptom severity was associated with baseline PTSD and depression severity, gender, age, and eligibility for a recognition procedure. RESULTS: Significant improvements in PTSD symptom severity were found over the course of the treatment (d = .59), with 47% of patients showing statistically reliable improvement in their symptoms. The only significant predictor of treatment response was eligibility for a recognition procedure, with the total model explaining approximately 10% of the variation in treatment response. CONCLUSIONS: Intensifying treatment for police officers with PTSD who do not respond to previous trauma-focused treatment appears beneficial for a substantial number of patients. However, eligibility for a recognition procedure may negatively impact treatment response. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

How do international humanitarian aid workers stay healthy in the face of adversity?

BACKGROUND: International humanitarian aid workers (iHAWs) are motivated strongly to travel abroad to help communities affected by war, famine, disaster and disease. They expose themselves to dangers and hardships during their field assignments. Despite working under such challenging circumstances, most workers remain healthy. The objective of the present study was to unravel the mechanism that enables workers to remain healthy under the same circumstances that affect these communities. We hypothesised that the different components of the Sense of Coherence (SOC) health mechanism mediate the relationship between field stressors and post-assignment health. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The stress-health model was tested among 465 international aid workers using a longitudinal pre-post assignment study design and structural equation modelling for path analyses. The (health) outcome variables were PTSD, anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, and work engagement. Our findings highlight the importance of being healthy before aid assignment and the negative health impact of field stressors that were not potentially traumatic. The SOC components mediated the relationship between field stress and post-assignment health, with males and females using different SOC components to alleviate stress. Males are more likely trying to understand the nature of the stressor, whereas females mobilise their resources to manage stressors. In both groups, a high level of meaningfulness of the work was an important component in maintaining health. Regarding using the SOC concept for understanding the process of maintaining health, our findings indicated that SOC is best considered context-specific and multidimensional. CONCLUSION: In addition to good pre-mission health, the SOC components help prevent field assignment-related negative health effects in iHAWs. Our findings support the idea to compose gender-balanced teams of iHAWs to maintain and promote health. The findings can be used to develop or refine health conversation tools and SOC based health interventions to promote health and wellbeing and prevent ill-health among aid workers and other stress-exposed populations.

Scalable psychological interventions for Syrian refugees in Europe and the Middle East: STRENGTHS study protocol for a prospective individual participant data meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: The World Health Organization's (WHO) scalable psychological interventions, such as Problem Management Plus (PM+) and Step-by-Step (SbS) are designed to be cost-effective non-specialist delivered interventions to reduce symptoms of common mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The STRENGTHS consortium aims to evaluate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and implementation of the individual format of PM+ and its group version (gPM+), as well as of the digital SbS intervention among Syrian refugees in seven countries in Europe and the Middle East. This is a study protocol for a prospective individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to evaluate (1) overall effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and (2) treatment moderators of PM+, gPM+ and SbS with Syrian refugees. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Five pilot randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and seven fully powered RCTs conducted within STRENGTHS will be combined into one IPD meta-analytic dataset. The RCTs include Syrian refugees of 18 years and above with elevated psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10>15)) and impaired daily functioning (WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0>16)). Participants are randomised into the intervention or care as usual control group, and complete follow-up assessments at 1-week, 3-month and 12-month follow-up. Primary outcomes are symptoms of depression and anxiety (25-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist). Secondary outcomes include daily functioning (WHODAS 2.0), PTSD symptoms (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5) and self-identified problems (PSYCHLOPS). We will conduct a one-stage IPD meta-analysis using linear mixed models. Quality of evidence will be assessed using the GRADE approach, and the economic evaluation approach will be assessed using the CHEC-list. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Local ethical approval has been obtained for each RCT. This IPD meta-analysis does not require ethical approval. The results of this study will be published in international peer-reviewed journals.