Perceptions of work in humanitarian assistance: Interviews with returning Swedish health professionals

doi:10.1016/j.dmr.2004.08.009

Disaster Management & Response

Volume 2, Issue 4, October–December 2004, Pages 101-108

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dmr.2004.08.009 Get rights and content

Health personnel volunteering for humanitarian assistance assignments work in increasingly dangerous situations and increasingly complex roles. A qualitative analysis of interviews with returning Swedish aid workers, who collectively had been on 74 missions in 32 different countries, revealed that they felt positive about their contribution, but experienced high levels of stress and frustration. They were also surprised and inadequately prepared for tasks that fell outside their professional health care training, including ones demanding pedagogic and management skills.

The volunteers perceived their success on humanitarian assistance assignments as being affected not only by their own professional competence and special preparatory training, but also by many other factors. In particular, recruiting organizations could improve volunteer performance by accepting only experienced professionals, requiring special preparatory training, clarifying the exact nature of the work, and providing better support during the assignment. Further analysis of humanitarian assistance as a complex and dynamic system involving multiple ‘actors’ could lead to improved understanding and better performance.

Section snippets

Design and sample selection

The study was based on interviews during 1999–2000 with health professionals who had been on recent humanitarian assistance missions. Personnel officers at major humanitarian NGOs in Sweden were asked to identify potential study participants (ie, doctors and nurses) who had been out on at least one humanitarian assistance mission for a Swedish NGO and had returned to Sweden during the previous 12 months. Persons who met the criteria were contacted by the personnel officers, who prepared lists

Profile of the interviewed group

The interviewed group included 15 nurses and 5 medical doctors, aged 25-55 years. Collectively they had been on 74 missions in 32 different countries throughout the world over a period of 25 years (1974–1999), with a majority of the missions in the 1990s. One person had been on 10 missions, and another 9 persons had been out 4 to 9 times. The other half of the group had worked abroad on 1 to 3 missions. Mission length had ranged from 6 weeks to over 2 years. Collectively, the interviewees had

Credibility, dependability, and transferability

In qualitative research, credibility is increased by including participants with various experiences and backgrounds.⁹ In this study, credibility was strengthened by including nurses and doctors, women and men, and persons who had worked for many different organizations in many different countries and roles. Suitability of meaning units and coverage of the original data, 2 other aspects of credibility, were checked by having co-researchers reach agreement on codes, categories, and themes. This

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Monika Pearson for her assistance with the interviews and the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare for financing the original study.

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Feature ArticlePerceptions of work in humanitarian assistance: Interviews with returning Swedish health professionals

Section snippets

Design and sample selection

Profile of the interviewed group

Credibility, dependability, and transferability

Acknowledgement

Humanitarian assistance: a role for the military? Nato's

Nations and Partners for Peace

Pre-deployment education and training for refugee emergencies: health and safety consequences

J Refugees Stud

Feature Article
Perceptions of work in humanitarian assistance: Interviews with returning Swedish health professionals