Burdening and Protective Organisational Factors among International Volunteers in Greek Refugee Camps—A Qualitative Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Site
2.2. Study Design and Participants
2.3. Qualitative Interviews
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Findings
3.1. Overview
3.2. Burdening Organisational Factors in the Work
3.2.1. Burdening Work Procedures
“Keeping the balance between giving your everything and being happy all the time and also working […] so that’s sometimes giving me stress or disappointment in myself. That’s an internal struggle you have sometimes.”(P. 3/female/age 25)
“[the coordinator] doesn’t really get it is exhausting to have shift off, shift on, shift off, shift on and I don’t think she always understands this when you say this to her”.(P. 2/female/age 29)
3.2.2. Difficult Team Dynamics
“[…] but when there was 12,000 people on the streets for two weeks, every single human being that was here should have helped. We shouldn’t spend three hours in a meeting thinking about this and that. This was a major frustration for me.”(P. 12/male/age 33)
“[…] for me it’s really important to really try to get the best goal or something possible. If somebody is not doing that, that’s really making me angry. I actually have a lot of bad memories about working here and they are actually all related to this one person that cannot step up and do the work.”(P. 16/female/age 24)
3.2.3. Insufficient Organisational Support
“I feel like for some things we do experience at work, we actually need psychosocial support. […] I really feel it’s not enough because those peoples that offered help are coordinators. I really feel this is not enough and not just for me but for all the people.”(P. 13/female/age 25)
3.3. Protective Organisational Factors in the Work
3.3.1. Constructive Work Procedures
“So, I love working closely with community volunteers and not just working with people but just being around another culture all the time. It makes you analyse your own culture and your own decisions, and this is a very important part of human growth in my opinion.”(P. 12/male/age 33)
“So, for me […] I can’t remember that I have been in a situation where I have felt very stressed.”(P. 18/male/age 65)
3.3.2. Favourable Team Interactions
“There is no decision made without the entire team’s input. This for me is amazing. Even for the new people, it’s nice to feel involved in the decision process from the start.”(P. 12/male/age 33)
3.3.3. Helpful Organisational Support
“You make friends here; you get to know people and then you share your thoughts with people you are driving to shift with or with your roommates […]. I think it’s more like an informal support system which works the best for me.”(P. 7/female/age 29)
3.3.4. Pleasant Living Arrangements
“I think we have the perfect environment to process it and to not be mentally exhausted by it. We get to come home to a warm house, which is an NGO house, so something we don’t even have to take care of. […] When we come home, […] we have our small techniques and mechanisms to create our home bubble and it’s a safe place and I feel really safe here.”.(P. 10/male/age 23)
3.3.5. Joyful Experiences
“Your probing questions made me realize like my mental health has probably been way better because I am feeling like I’m acting in life, doing something that I enjoy doing rather than sitting in a hot office in the middle of November, answering emails which make no difference in the end of the day.”(P. 5/male/age 28)
3.4. Gender-Specific Aspects within the Work
“[…] I feel like I am not allowed to do the same kind of things my male counterpart could do because he is a man.”(P. 1/female/age 27)
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Burdening Organisational Factors | |
---|---|
Burdening work procedures | Inadequate briefing structure, individual skills are not considered, insufficient initial training and orientation, interactions with camp residents, physically and mentally demanding work, planning insecurity, poorly planned work schedules, role ambiguity, too much bureaucracy, witnessing conditions during operations in the camp |
Difficult team interactions | Conflicts with NGO management, differences in communicating, disagreements in the team, fragmentary loop of information, rigid hierarchy, unapproachable co-ordinators, unclear hierarchy, unjustified negative feedback, unsuitable other volunteers |
Insufficient organisational support | Barrier to contact the support offers (e.g., to contact a counsellor), insufficient NGO structures |
Protective Organisational Factors | |
---|---|
Constructive work procedures | Autonomy in the organisation of tasks, continuous learning, good initial training and orientation, interactions with camp residents, little stress at work, regular debriefings, taking responsibility, time to relax, working in a team, working in line with personal preferences, working in line with personal skills |
Favourable team interactions | Collaborative team decision making, comprehension for individual needs, open communication space, pleasant atmosphere in the team, positive view on hierarchy, small team |
Helpful organisational support | Administration well managed, guidance through a co-ordinator, material support, peer support, professional psychological assistance, strong NGO values |
Pleasant living arrangements | Pleasant living arrangements |
Joyful experiences | Creating positive relationships, joy within the work |
Burdening Factors | Protective Factors | |
Exclusively among male volunteers | / | Work procedures
|
Exclusively among female volunteers | Insufficient organisational support
| Work procedures
|
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Josam, I.; Grothe, S.; Lüdecke, D.; Vonneilich, N.; von dem Knesebeck, O. Burdening and Protective Organisational Factors among International Volunteers in Greek Refugee Camps—A Qualitative Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 8599. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148599
Josam I, Grothe S, Lüdecke D, Vonneilich N, von dem Knesebeck O. Burdening and Protective Organisational Factors among International Volunteers in Greek Refugee Camps—A Qualitative Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(14):8599. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148599
Chicago/Turabian StyleJosam, Isabel, Sarah Grothe, Daniel Lüdecke, Nico Vonneilich, and Olaf von dem Knesebeck. 2022. "Burdening and Protective Organisational Factors among International Volunteers in Greek Refugee Camps—A Qualitative Study" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 14: 8599. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148599