british psychological society division of counselling psychology annual conference 2013 a...
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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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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.
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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?
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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)
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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.
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
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.
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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.
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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.
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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
Christina Montaiuti PhD
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.
Christina Montaiuti PhD