Exploring job demands and resources in psychotherapists treating displaced people—A scoping review

Abstract

Objective: Little is known about the occupational health of psychotherapists treating displaced people. Therefore, the literature was explored regarding job demands, job resources, as well as work- and health-related outcomes. The Job Demands-Job Resources model (JD-R model) according to Bakker and Demerouti served as theoretical framework. Method: This scoping review followed the methodological framework provided by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). Six databases were searched for qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies. Results: Based on 15 included articles, the emotional impact of work, cultural or language barriers, and administrative obstacles were identified as major job demands. Important job resources were related to a politicized conceptualization of the professional identity. Health-related outcomes could mainly be ascribed to empathy-based strain, while work-related outcomes were associated with discrepancies between personal values and asylum regulations. Conclusion: Despite the emotional impact of work, psychotherapists seem to benefit from work engagement arising out of socio-political conviction and the ability to help suffering people. Practitioners need more environmental support like professional networks. Further research is required, as current findings are predominantly based on qualitative and cross-sectional studies.

Keywords:

• psychotherapist
• job demands
• job resources
• refugee
• asylum seeker
• war

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental Data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2022.2071653

Author Contributions

SR: Conceptualization, literature search, data extraction, analysis and interpretation, writing—original draft preparation;

AF, VH, SM: Conceptualization, supervision, writing—reviewing and editing.

All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.