Well-Being at the Polish Polar Station, Svalbard: Adaptation to Extreme Environments

Abstract

While the psychological well-being of Antarctic crews has been investigated previously, Arctic crews have received little attention. Antarctic stressors include the permanent darkness of polar night, cramped quarters and harsh weather conditions which demand that the crews work together to survive. These stressors are also present for Arctic crews with the addition of dangerous polar bears. In this study, these psychological stressors were explored at the Polish Polar Station, Svalbard. Nine crew members three of whom were women, took part in the study. They filled in the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R) after their arrival, at equinox, during polar night, in spring and during the midnight sun. Depression and hostility were highest in the spring following the isolation of polar night. Vigor reached its lowest point in spring and remained low until mission completion. Confusion continued to decline throughout the mission. The Polish crew adapted by monitoring their feelings to work together and ensure survival. Up until and during the polar night, negative feelings were low. Following the isolation period, depression and hostility increased while vigor declined. This suggests adaptation paradigm wherein the participants stopped to monitor their own feelings as closely after the polar night.

“I really don’t wanna think about what’s going to happen to me!”: a case study of psychological health and safety at an isolated high Arctic Research Station

“…In order to collect all data, one of the authors (AGMT) traveled to the Polish Polar Station. Albert resided at the Polish Polar Station and was one of 10 participants there until he left after the Winter Isolation measurement (see Temp et al 2017Temp et al , 2018. He was given the questionnaires in an anonymised envelope to fill in in his own time while at the station, and completed them online from home in April and June.…”

“…The original design of this study was a group-based, withinsubjects analysis of the whole crew's well-being, cognitive state and personal experiences over the course of a year, see Temp et al (2018) for a detailed methodological account and Temp et al (2017) for the group-based emotional outcomes. The five measurements taken over the year were "After Arrival [at the station]" in July, "Equinox" (September), "Winter Isolation" (January), "Spring" (April) and "Before Departure" (June).…”

“…There is a plethora of research describing such mental health fluctuations in Antarctic crews, spanning all decades since the International Polar Year (IPY, 1957-58), for examples see Pope and Rogers (1968), Strange and Klein (1973), Bell and Garthwaite (1987), Palinkas et al (1995); and Palinkas et al (2004Palinkas et al ( , 2010. Psychological research into an Arctic crew has suggested that there may be similar group fluctuations over the course of a one-year mission (Temp et al 2017).…”

Main features of expeditioners’personality traits in Antarctic conditions

“…These disorders are called "winter-over syndrome". Studying the impact of the "winter-over syndrome:" on human health has been repeatedly investigated by many authors: Polar expeditioners often note the unwarranted occurrence of headaches and vegetativevascular reactions, and the deterioration of mood and well-being, mostly during the Antarctic winter (Temp, Lee, & Bak, 2017). The influence of seasonality (polar day and polar night) and longterm isolation was studied among the winterers of the Indian expedition to Antarctica (Bhagava, Mukerji, & Sachdeva, 2000).…”

Changes in the Ukrainian expeditioners’ psychological states during long Antarctic stay

“…This negatively affects interpersonal relationships and efficiency of crew members. Therefore it is important to conduct careful psychological selection, training and psychological support of expeditioners' during the all period of activity (Grant et al, 2007;Leon, Sandal, & Larsen, 2011;Temp, Lee, & Bak, 2017).…”