Postmission Altruistic Identity Disruption Questionnaire (PostAID/Q): identifying humanitarian-related distress during the reintegration period following international humanitarian aid work

McCormack, Lynne; Orenstein, Andrew; Joseph, Stephen

Abstract

Psychological care of humanitarian personnel exposed to high risk environments is not standardized across the sector. Particularly, returnees experiencing re-integration distress specific to prior aid deployment, is randomly addressed. The Postmission Altruistic Identity Disruption Questionnaire (PostAID/Q), an 18-item self-report screening tool, attempts to standardize assessment of re-integration/specific distress in returnees from humanitarian deployment. When individuals, high in altruistic identity (AI), perceive invalidation or lack of support from organization, family, or society following a difficult deployment, they may experience altruistic identity disruption (AID) manifest by interrelated feelings of isolation, doubt, and self-blame. Paradoxically, AID distress can precipitate attempts to redeploy prematurely leaving any prior adverse/traumatic responses unresolved. This study compared the discriminant validity of PostAID/Q with standardized measures of distress and social support (IES-R;GHQ-12;SPS). The construct demonstrated significant predictive value, high internal consistency and significant variance over and above the other constructs. Promisingly, PostAID/Q shows utility in predicting re-integration/specific distress postmission.

Citation

McCormack, L., Orenstein, A., & Joseph, S. (2016). Postmission Altruistic Identity Disruption Questionnaire (PostAID/Q): identifying humanitarian-related distress during the reintegration period following international humanitarian aid work. Traumatology, 22(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000053

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 26, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 18, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 23, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 23, 2016
• Journal: Traumatology
• Print ISSN: 1534-7656
• Electronic ISSN: 1085-9373
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-8
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000053
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/772441
• Publisher URL: http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayrecord&uid=2016-02339-001
• Additional Information: This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.
• Contract Date: Mar 23, 2016