The Mental Health of Expatriate and Kosovar Albanian Humanitarian Aid Workers

• Published in: Disasters Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 152 - 170
• Main Authors: Cardozo, Barbara Lopes, Holtz, Timothy H., Kaiser, Reinhard, Gotway, Carol A., Ghitis, Frida, Toomey, Estelle, Salama, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK and Boston, USA Blackwell Science Ltd 01-06-2005
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Albania - ethnology; Albanians; Altruism; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data analysis; Depression; Depression (Psychology); Development programmes; Disasters; Employment - psychology; Expatriates; Female; Health; Health Care Services; humanitarian aid workers; Humanitarianism; Humans; Kosovo; Male; Mental Health; Mental Health - statistics & numerical data; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Psychological factors; Relief Work; Risk Factors; Social problems; Social Support; support services; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Trauma; Workers; Yugoslavia - ethnology; Yugoslavia; Albania
• ISSN: 0361-3666; 1467-7717
• DOI: 10.1111/j.0361-3666.2005.00278.x

The mental health consequences of exposure to traumatic events and the risk factors for psychological morbidity among expatriate and Kosovar Albanian humanitarian aid workers have not been well studied. In June 2000, we used standardised screening tools to survey 285 (69.5%) of 410 expatriate aid workers and 325 (75.8%) of 429 Kosovar Albanian aid workers from 22 humanitarian organizations that were implementing health programmes in Kosovo. The mean number of trauma events experienced by expatriates was 2.8 (standard deviation: 2.7) and by Kosovar staff 3.2 (standard deviation: 2.8). Although only 1.1% of expatriate and 6.2% of Kosovar aid workers reported symptoms consistent with the diagnosis for post‐traumatic stress disorder, 17.2% and 16.9%, respectively, reported symptoms satisfying the definition of depression. Regression analysis demonstrated that the number of trauma events experienced was significantly associated with depression for the two sets of workers. Organisational support services may be an important mediating factor and should be targeted at both groups.