Post-mission mental health of expatriates at Médecins Sans Frontières Amsterdam

Abstract

Humanitarian aid workers are exposed to many psychological stressors during deployment. In this work, we assessed the impact of various factors on the reported mental health of humanitarian aid workers returning from the field. A quarter of the respondents reported feeling worse than usual and experiencing high levels of psychological distress. The confidence respondents felt in regards to their job was affected by the context in which their deployment took place and what kind of population they worked with. Additionally, greater mission experience showed a positive effect on overall health and exhaustion. Finally, the number of days since leaving the mission showed the most significant effects on mental health outcomes such as overall health, overall distress, anxiety, and depression. A number of suggestions were given, both methodological and psychological, to improve the identification of mental health problems in expatriate aid workers in future assessments.