Developing sustainable capacity of associations in psychosocial support studies in disasters

Disasters are destructive events that cause material, social and psychological losses that interrupt ongoing life. The importance of psychosocial support in addition to the protection of the health of the individual and the society experiencing a disaster, the re-establishment of life in the disaster zone and the services provided for the future of society is quite great. In order to provide an effective and efficient psychosocial support service in disasters, a solidarist and multi-actor structure is required at all stages of the disaster management cycle. Within the scope of this thesis, it is aimed to investigate in depth the subjective experiences of mental health workers who are members of the professional organization that provides psychosocial support services in disasters. Findings were obtained by using semi-structured questions in in-depth interviews conducted with fifteen mental health workers who provide psychosocial support services in disasters. In these interviews, the factors affecting the volunteering motivation of mental health workers were investigated. The findings were analyzed using the phenomenology method. As a result of the analysis (1) with the top theme of "Socio-Demographic Characteristics", (2) with the top theme of "Volunteer Management of Professional Organizations in Disasters" (Sub themes: "Volunteering Policy", "Number and Experiences of Volunteers", "Access and Continuity to Volunteers", "Volunteer Coordination", "Orientation and Supervision", "Task Distribution of Volunteers", "Feedback and Evaluation" and "Methods of Motivating Volunteers"), (3) with the top theme of "Internal Coordination and Team Communication", (4) with the top theme of "Coordination with Other Institutions and Bureaucratic Operation", (5) with the top theme of "Motivations of People to Volunteer" (Sub themes: "The Effect of Having Experienced a Disaster", "Motivation to Help Others", "Motivation of Sharing Knowledge and Skills", "Motivation of Developing Professional Skills", "Motivation of Being a Part of Professional Organizations") were obtained with five top themes. All the findings were discussed within the framework of the literature.