Evaluation of a support group for Ebola hotline workers in Sierra Leone

ABSTRACT

During the Ebola epidemic, Sierra Leoneans called an emergency hotline (the ‘117 Hotline') to report matters related to Ebola, such as suspected cases. Workers on the 117 Hotline were at high risk for experiencing stress, including secondary trauma, so a support group to provide psychosocial support was implemented by an international humanitarian organization for the workers. A qualitative evaluation was conducted in which 44 hotline workers were interviewed about working at 117 Hotline and their experiences in the support group. The respondents all reported that the support group was beneficial. They most valued being able to increase their knowledge to help the callers and having a safe, re-energizing space to meet. They elucidated how the group helped promote their capacity for self-care, by ‘building [them] emotionally' and giving them a new perspective on life. The respondents described how the support group helped them at work in handling abusive calls, managing stress and developing counseling skills. These findings indicate that using support groups for hotline workers during a crisis is a promising approach to promoting mental health, self-care and work performance. This indicates the need to ensure psychosocial support is provided to the helpers as well as the victims of an international disaster.

KEYWORDS:

• Ebola
• support group
• secondary trauma
• self-care
• hotline

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the support of all IsraAID support group facilitators and Fourah Bay College student interns. We acknowledge the support of IsraAID's psychosocial expertise, eHealth, and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health in implementation of the program.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes on contributors

Diddy Mymin Kahn is a clinical psychologist who is a trauma specialist in humanitarian aid and intervention. Diddy is currently professional advisor for the IsraAID Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) Ebola response project in Sierra Leone and GBV program in Haiti and is the Director of the African Refugee Therapeutic Services (ARTS) in Tel Aviv.

Jeffrey Bulanda is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern Illinois University. He is a Fulbright Scholar who helped train the first cohort of social work students at the University of Sierra Leone.

Andra Weissberger is the Country Director of IsraAID's mission in Sierra Leone. She is interested in policy and programming around gender-based violence and mental health in developing countries.

Sulaiman Jalloh is part of the first cohort of social work students in Sierra Leone who graduated in 2016. He currently works as lead field worker for IsraAID in Sierra Leone.

Edward Von Villa is part of the first cohort of social work students in Sierra Leone who graduated in 2016. He worked with IsraAID has a monitoring and evaluation assistant.

Alfred Williams is part of the first cohort of social work students in Sierra Leone who graduated in 2016. He works as a field officer for IsraAID in Sierra Leone.