1. [Distress, Main Burdens, Engagement Motivators and Needs of Fulltime and Volunteer Refugee Aid Workers].
- Author
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Grimm T, Georgiadou E, Silbermann A, Junker K, Nisslbeck W, and Erim Y
- Subjects
- Adult, Female, Germany, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Motivation, Stress, Psychological psychology, Surveys and Questionnaires, Syria ethnology, Health Services, Refugees, Volunteers psychology
- Abstract
In the psychosomatic department of the University Hospital of Erlangen trainings were conducted for active refugee aid workers with start in January, 2016. Meanwhile 49 helpers participated in the training and 45 of them filled out a survey questionnaire. Perceived distress when providing care for refugees, as well as engagement motivation and further training needs were explored. Furthermore, depressive symptoms as well as the prevalence of traumatic experiences were investigated. The main burden was experienced through lacking freedom of action on the background of legal regulations. Furthermore dissociative symptoms (15.4%) and aggressive behavior (26.9%) of refugees were reported as distress factors. To help others proved to be the highest motivator for their work with refugees. Only 2 workers (4.4%) showed elevated depressive symptom manifestations. In contrast, 93.3% of refugee helpers had experienced a traumatic event personally or as a witness. For the helpers the greatest training needs were the recognition of mental health problems and to learn concrete intervention strategies to help those affected., Competing Interests: Interessenkonflikt: Die Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)
- Published
- 2017
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