The psychological burden of volunteers in psychosocial emergency care – a qualitative interview study

Abstract

Psychosocial emergency care personnel provide voluntary psychological support directly after potentially traumatic events. During emergency responses, they experience challenging situations. However, previous quantitative studies suggest that the psychological burden of psychosocial emergency care personnel does not exceed that of the general population. This study aimed to obtain an in-depth analysis of the volunteers’ psychological reactions and resources regarding emergency responses. 36 psychosocial emergency care volunteers (12 pre-training, 12 post-training, 12 experienced) were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. The volunteers were selected from previous cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on secondary traumatization in psychosocial emergency care volunteers. A qualitative content analysis of the transcribed interviews was performed following the principles of summary and inductive category development. We identified 845 codes which we summarized in three overarching categories: (I) reactions to emergency responses, (II) psychosocial emergency care work related resources and (III) experiences and changes in life perspective related to working in psychosocial emergency care. The volunteers described both emotional and physical reactions to emergency responses. While they perceived social support as a key coping resource and reported a greater appreciation of their own lives and their families due to their work, many volunteers also felt increased concern that something could happen to them. The volunteers’ reactions and symptoms are reasonable responses to stress and not indicative of serious impairment. Nevertheless, emergency responses are both emotionally and physically challenging. Volunteers should be carefully selected, receive regular supervision and determine the frequency of emergency responses.

Content analysis of psychological first aid training manuals via topic modelling

“…Greinacher et al, 2019a ), it does occur. Happily, resiliency factors and processes exist to prevent deleterious outcomes in these first-line psychosocial responders (Alshahrani et al, 2022 ; Greinacher et al, 2019b ; Greinacher et al, 2022 ). However, without substantive training on resiliency factors and processes, front-line workers supplying psychosocial support are at risk.…”

“…It should be noted that because the PFA training manuals have not kept pace with the growing online nature of social interaction, PFA trainers must develop a list of internet best practices for their PFA trainees to learn. A final practical implication for trainers emerges from Greinacher et al’s ( 2022 ) study on the psychological burden of PFA work. Given the paucity of discussion on self-care noted earlier, trainers should supplement the manual to address this topic, make trainees aware of the need to receive regular supervision, and modulate the frequency of emergency responses.…”