The resiliency of humanitarian aidworkers in disasters : a qualitative study in the Iranian context

Abstract EN

Objectives: the purpose of this study is to explore the factors affecting the resiliency of humanitarian aidworkers in disasters in Iran.

Methods: the present qualitative study has been conducted using a content analysis method.

a purposeful sampling method was applied until reaching data saturation.

a total of 18 humanitarian aidworkers participated in this study.

data were collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews.

Results: six main categories which influence resiliency of humanitarian aid workers in disasters were extracted from the data: challenges of disasters’ scene, self-adequacy, self-care, burnout, organizational support, and supportive network.

Conclusions: the officials and executive directors of humanitarian service organizations should be aware of the factors affecting resiliency and try to enhance the resiliency of their workers in order to encourage them for keeping on their voluntary efforts.