Trauma during humanitarian work: the effects on intimacy, wellbeing and PTSD-symptoms

Figures & data

Table 1. Aid-workers participants according to NOGs distribution (N = 317).

International organizations		National organizations		Local charity organizations
	N (%)		N (%)		N (%)
Japan Emergency NGO	73 (23.3%)	Jordan Health Aid Society	87 (27.4%)	Waqea	9 (2.8%)
Save the Children	20 (6.3%)	Noor Al Hussein Foundation	41 (12.8%)	Dar Alkarama	8 (2.4%)
International Medical Corps	19 (5.9%)	The Jordanian Women’s Union	19 (5.9%)	Green Crescent	7 (2.1%)
Center for Victims of Torture	10 (3.1%)			Bader Centre	5 (1.7%)
Mercy Corps	8 (2.4%)			Naher El Rahmeh	5 (1.7%)
International Orthodox Christian Charities	4 (1.4%)
UN Women	2 (0.7%)
Total number of participants N = 317 (100%)	136 (42.8%)		147 (46.1%)		34 (10.7%)

Figure 1. SEM model assessing the relation between STS, number of refugees served, feeling connected to NGO, physical health, physical pain, and self-differentiation in predicting PTSD-symptoms, intimacy and wellbeing of aid-workers. Note. Solid lines represent significant predictions, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.0001.

Dashed lines representing non-significant predictions and curved lines representing covariates between constructs were omitted for clarity. The associations STS→ wellbeing, number of refugees served → PTSD-symptoms, and number of refugees served → wellbeing were omitted from the model to gain a better model fit.

Table 2. Aid-workers demographics, work experience, and relationship with their organizations.

Demographics	Range	M	SD	N	Percent	-	-	-
Sex: Male				137	43.2	-	-	-
Female				180	56.8	-	-	-
Age	19–68	29.32	7.91	-	-	-	-	-
Years of education	4–26	15.83	2.37	-	-	-	-	-
Income: High				21	6.5	-	-	-
Medium				204	64.5	-	-	-
Low				92	29.0	-	-	-
Marital Status: Single				166	52.4	-	-	-
Married				144	45.3	-	-	-
Separated/Divorced				7	2.3	-	-	-
Years of marriage	0–49	3.68	7.24	-	-	-	-	-
Number of children	0–13	0.97	1.84	-	-	-	-	-
Religion: Muslim				302	95.2	-	-	-
Christian				11	3.5	-	-	-
Druze				3	1.0	-	-	-
Other				1	0.3	-	-	-
Work Experience						-	-	-
Employment: Worked full time				268	84.7	-	-	-
Part time				25	7.8	-	-	-
Volunteered				24	7.5	-	-	-
Years of experience	0–45	3.09	5.54	-	-	-	-	-
Number of refugees served per average week	1–5000	424.77	633.56	-	-	-	-	-
Hours worked each week	1–100	35.79	15.72	-	-	-	-	-
Hours of inquiries each week	1–70	27.35	16.06	-	-	-	-	-
Agency Relationship Evaluations (Responses in Likert Format):				Very high	High	Moderate	Low	Very low
Feeling connected to the NGO	1–5	2.19	.887	24.0%	40.3%	29.3%	5.7%	0.6%
Believing in the NGOs ideologies	1–5	2.12	.878	26.5%	40.9%	28%	3.2%	1.3%
The extent of satisfaction from what they do at work	1–5	2.51	.898	13.6%	33.4%	43.7%	6.6%	2.2%
The extent of helping others at work make them continue doing it	1–4	1.98	.839	31.9%	42.2%	21.7%	4.1%	0%

Number of refugees served on average per week includes speaking to refugees, distribution of food and other items, especially that 64% of aid-workers worked in refugee camps, wherein high volume of encounters with refugees occur.

Table 3. Intercorrelations between the main study measures (N = 317).

Variables	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1. STS	2.13	.845	-
2. Number of refugees	423.77	633.562	.094	-
3. Connected to NGO	2.19	.887	.076	−.011	-
4. DIS-R	3.77	.523	−.364**	−.061	−.175**	-
5. Physical health	1.34	.531	.188**	.138*	.201**	−.176**	-
6. Physical pain	.34	.476	.160**	.111*	.124*	−.116*	.399**	-
7. PTSD-symptoms	1.66	.679	.418**	.080	.145**	−.389**	.151**	.214**	-
8. Intimacy	2.22	.430	−.313**	−.096	−.212**	.278**	−.226**	−.191**	−.289**	-
9. Wellbeing	1.66	.645	.130*	.074	.263**	−.309**	.389**	.304**	.282**	−.216**	-

STS = secondary traumatic stress; DIS-R = differentiation of the self. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. Note. Connected to NGO, 1 = very high to 5 = very low. Physical health, 1. Good, 2. Fair, 3. Poor. Physical pain, 0 = no, 1 = yes. Wellbeing, 1. Good, 2. Fair, 3. Poor.

Table 4. Unstandardized regression coefficients, standard errors, and bootstrap 95% confidence intervals for predicting PTSD-symptoms, intimacy and wellbeing through physical health, physical pain, and differentiation.

Measure	PTSD-symptoms	β (SE)	Intimacy	β (SE)	Wellbeing	β (SE)
(1) Direct STS	[0.164, 0.399]***	0.231 (0.042)	[−0.377, −0.049]**	−0.108 (0.028)	[0.000, 0.000]	–
Indirect STS through physical health	–	–	[−0.021, 0.002]	−1.426 (0.005)	[0.011, 0.061]*	2.597 (0.013)
Indirect STS through physical pain	[0.002, 0.034]*	1.831 (0.008)	[−0.017, 0.002]	−1.248 (0.005)	[0.002, 0.037]*	1.931 (0.009)
Indirect STS through differentiation	[0.039, 0.110]*	3.975 (0.018)	[−0.048, −0.007]*	−2.464 (0.010)	[0.029, 0.091]*	3.686 (0.016)
(2) Direct number of refugees served	[0.000, 0.000]	–	[−0.125, 0.030]	0.000 (0.000)	[0.000, 0.000]	–
Indirect number of refugees served through physical health	–	–	–	–	–	–
Indirect number of refugees served through physical pain	–	–	–	–	–	–
Indirect number of refugees served through differentiation	–	–	–	–	–	–
(3) Direct feeling connected to organization	[−0.038, 0.157]	0.047 (0.038)	[−0.235, −0.046]**	−0.069 (0.026)	[0.044, 0.277]**	0.112 (0.037)
Indirect feeling connected to NGO through physical health	–	–	[−0.022, 0.002]	−1.466 (0.006)	[0.014, 0.063]*	2.861 (0.012)
Indirect feeling connected to NGO through physical pain	[0.000, 0.029]*	1.626 (0.007)	[−0.014, 0.002]	−1.177 (0.004)	[0.000, 0.032]*	1.694 (0.008)
Indirect feeling connected to NGO through differentiation	[0.008, 0.056]*	2.463 (0.012)	[−0.024, −0.002]*	−1.938 (0.005)	[0.006, 0.046]*	2.389 (0.010)

STS – > wellbeing, number of refugees served –> PTSD-symptoms, number of refugees served –> wellbeing, and physical health–> PTSD-symptoms were omitted from the model to gain a better model fit.

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p = 0.001