Investigation of perceived stress, hopelessness and quality of life in humanitarian aid workers during the COVID-19 pandemic period: The case of Mersin province

The effects of the Covid-19 epidemic, which started in China and became a global crisis, come to the fore in the areas of political, social, economic, psychological and religious life. The Covid'19 epidemic has adversely affected many professional groups, especially healthcare workers. Humanitarian aid organizations working in disaster and crisis situations have also been adversely affected by the Covid'19 epidemic. The aim of this research is to focus on the differences in the quality of life, hopelessness, and perceived stress burden of the stress factors caused by the pandemic in humanitarian aid workers. This research was conducted using face-to-face data collection method with 109 participants using quantitative research methods. SPSS 28.0 program was used for data analysis. According to the results, the hopelessness, stress and quality of life levels of the participants differ according to the fact that one of the relatives of the humanitarian aid workers has not been diagnosed with Covid'19 before. The quality of life levels of participants who have been in quarantine before differ. The hopelessness, quality of life and stress level of the participants differ according to the vaccine doses administered. There is no difference in terms of hopelessness level, stress level and quality of life between humanitarian aid workers who have been diagnosed with Covid'19 and those who have not. When the results are examined, the levels of sympathy fatigue, which is a sub-dimension of the quality of life of the health personnel working in humanitarian aid organizations, are significantly higher than those working in other positions. In line with the findings obtained from the research, it has been suggested to provide support for improving the quality of life of humanitarian aid workers and to increase protective & preventive activities regarding the stress created by the epidemic on employees.