Building Stress- Resilience among Swedish Humanitarian Aid Workers : - The Pre- Deployment Preparation from the Humanitarian Aid Workers’ Perspective

The aim of the study is to examine how well MSB (Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency) prepare the Swedish humanitarian aid workers to face stressful situations, looking at the pre- deployment preparation received. The study investigates how effective and relevant the pre- deployment preparation is in terms of building resilience against stress, according to the humanitarian aid workers’ experience. This study has been conducted with a quantitative online survey, combined with a qualitative open- ended survey. The surveys were based on research models on work-related stress and on resilience- building among humanitarian aid workers. The frameworks point out criteria needed to be fulfilled by an organization in order to build sufficient stress- resilience among humanitarian aid workers in the pre- deployment phase. The results reveal that MSB is able to fulfill most of the criteria set in accordance with the theoretical framework. The one and only criterion MSB fails in providing is an open, in- depth discussion about mental health before the aid worker is deployed. This also corresponds to the aid workers experience of not being provided with this. The aid workers’ experience reveals that resilience against stress is important, however, many seem to build resilience independently from MSB