Abstract
After Sichuan earthquake, a few dedicated teams of psychological volunteers have been committed to helping the survivors of the disaster for a long period. Their personal transformation experiences were absent in the literatures. The purpose of this qualitative research was to adopt a qualitative research to examine individuals’ lived experiences of personal transformation after long-term disaster mental health services. The study interviewed 10 psychological counselors, 3 psychiatric nurses, 4 psychiatrist, and 6 social workers. We built an explorative model to understand disaster relief workers personal transformation after long-term periods in disaster settings. The model proposes that existential learning is a key mediator factor from negative transformation to positive transformation. Cultivating the existential learning though training, caring and support involves a number of processes that includes acceptance, being authentic, and being mindful of here and now, which can transform their suffering to growth.
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This study was funded by Travis Research Institute.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The first author Zhengjia REN wrote the first draft of the article. All authors contributed to the subsequent revision of the article and approved the final manuscript for publication.
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All researchers declare that we have no other conflict of interest.
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The study was approved by the Southwest Hospital in China
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Confidentiality and privacy of interviewees were maintained. All participants were noticed before the research that they can withdraw from the research at any time.
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Ren, Z., Gao, M., Yang, M. et al. Personal Transformation Process of Mental Health Relief Workers in Sichuan Earthquake. J Relig Health 57, 2313–2324 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0584-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0584-4