Infectious disease outbreaks and bio-events are becoming increasingly common due to human overpopulation, inadequate health care and public health infrastructure, rapid globalization, and misuse of antibiotics. The impacts of poor farming and land-use practices, declining vaccination rates, and as a result of climate change can impact the frequency and severity of these events.
In 2014, the West Africa Ebola epidemic required the deployment of numerous medical response teams from global health organizations such as the CDC, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)/ Doctors Without Borders, Partners In Health, and many other international non-governmental organizations.
Gershon et al aimed to identify the psychosocial impact on volunteers deployed in this mission by designing a qualitative thematic study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on sixteen US health care workers who recently returned from a voluntary deployment to evaluate their experiences before, during, and after deployment.
From the interviews about pre-deployment, it was observed that motivation for volunteering was influenced by their perceived belief that they had an ethical obligation, a commitment to social justice, health equity, and past experiences with humanitarian crises. Volunteers also experienced fear and concern for themselves and fear for their family and friends about their deployment. The adequacy of training and preparation was also measured in this study.
Their first impressions during their deployment were shock at the lack of resources in the affected areas, poor living conditions, and inadequate organizational management. It was observed that there were many gaps in preparedness within the different stages of deployment; such as a lack of resources, standards of care and infection control protocols, and security measures.
The psychological impacts were also apparent during this stage, such as feelings of depersonalization, fatigue, and the effects of witnessing patients suffering. This translated into feelings of guilt, symptoms of PTSD, feelings of unappreciation, and isolation after they returned from their mission.
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