Stress among community level workers working in disasters

Background: After any disaster, thousands of community level workers (CLWs) from Government organisations and non-government organisations (NGOs) are involved in the rescue, relief, rehabilitation and rebuilding of the disaster affected population. However, the exposure to traumatic stimuli and the demands of work can cause workers to show signs of emotional and psychological strain. So there is a need to understand the CLWs’ stress at various dimensions. Materials and methods: The main objectives of the study are to describe the job stress and time spent on social life of the CLWs who are working in the disaster affected areas. The study was conducted among 68 health workers who were working in all the 33 tsunami affected villages of Kanniyakumari District of Tamil Nadu during the period of January-March 2006. The instruments used were family schedule, burnout inventory to describe the job stress of the health workers, and time analysis chart developed based on one’s routine work in a usual week. Results: Majority of the CLWs (57%) were in 41?50 years age group. The most reported items in the questionnaire were headaches at work, feel moody, restless or depressed at work, feel discouraged, work harder and enjoy it less, get irritated with the demands of the people. The time spent at work was comparatively more than other spheres of life. Conclusion: Stress among CLWs working with the survivors of disaster is one of the important factors to be addressed that has a direct implication on the effective implementation of the disaster relief and rehabilitation services in the community.