Experiences and psychological strain in volunteer medical doctors providing medical visual examination for asylum seekers in a reception center in Germany – a qualitative interview study

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of the medical doctors, displaying age, gender, years of medical experience, medical specialty, number of shifts in reception center, and possible previous experiences with refugees.

Sociodemographic characteristics of volunteer doctors n = 18
Variable	M (SD)
Age [years]	34.8 (7.0)
Gender [f / m]	Female = 9 male = 9
Years of medical experience [years]	7.4 (5.7)
Medical specialty [non-surgical / surgical]	Nonsurgical = 15 surgical = 3
Number of shifts in the reception center [n]	1.7 (0.8)
Previous experiences with refugees [yes / no]	Yes = 1 no = 17

Table 2. Interview questions for the doctors, encompassing main open questions, encouraging questions and clarifying questions.

Main open questions	Encouraging questions	Clarifying questions
Main open question 1
What kind of reasons did encourage you to voluntarily work in a reception center for refugees?	Have there been inner motivations? Have there been external reasons? Did you discuss those reasons with colleagues, family, or friends?	Which actual inner motivations encouraged you? Which actual external reasons encouraged you?
Main open question 2
How did you imagine the reception center in the forefront of your commitment?	How did you imagine the buildings of the reception center? How did you imagine the environment of the reception center? How did you imagine the contact with the refugees in the reception center?	What kind of associations did you have? What kind of reaction of yourself did you anticipate? Did you anticipate difficult situations or joyful moments?
Main open question 3
What kind of experiences did you actually make during your commitment in the reception center?	How did you actually experience the buildings of the reception center? How did you actually experience the environment of the reception center? What kind of atmosphere did you experience in the reception center? How did you actually experience the contact with the refugees in the reception center? Did your impressions change in the course of your different commitments?	What kind of associations have been evoked, working in the reception center? Did the refugees tell you about their personal background stories? What kind of feelings did you experienced while working with the refugees? Did you experience challenging situations? Did you experience joyful moments?
Main open question 4
What kind of clinical experiences did you make during your commitment?	What kind of disorders have you been concerned with? Has there been a difference between disorders being diagnosed by you in the reception center in comparison to your usual workplace in the hospital? Has there been medically challenging situations for you?	What kind of medical or psychological disorders did you find? How did you experience treating possibly rare diseases or diseases, you do not have much expertise with?
Main open question 5
What kind of thoughts or imagery have you been concerned with in the aftermath of your commitment(s) in the reception center?	Which thoughts or memories have you been concerned with the most? How did you handle your experiences of the reception center? Do you feel burdened by the experiences you made?	Did you have conversations about your experiences? Did you demand any support to get along with your experiences? What experience was most burdening for you? Why has this experience been burdening for you?
Main open question 6
In what manner did your experiences in the reception center possibly change your own concepts or ideals?	In what manner did the experiences changed your political position? In what manner did the experiences changed your moral point of view? In what manner did the experiences changed your ideals?
Main open question 7
How did your personal attitude or perspective concerning refugees and flight change due to your experiences?	Could you describe your “former” view on refugees in the forefront of your commitment? Could you describe your “new” view on refugees now, after your commitment?
Main open question 8
In your opinion, what kind of support do doctors need, working in medical visual examination in a reception center?	What kind of psychological support do they need? What kind of medical support do they need? What other support do they need?
Main open question 9
What kind of changes should be made, if you continue to work in the reception center?	Are there structural or organizational difficulties, which could be optimized? Are there difficulties concerning hygiene and safety, which could be improved? Would you even continue to work in the reception center?	If you do want to continue working in the reception center, what reasons can you give? If you do not want to continue working in the reception center, what reasons can you give?
Main open question 10
What kind of final conclusions can you draw from your experiences in the reception center?