Stress, burnout and stressors in volunteers working with refugees

Interest in the negative and positive outcomes of stress in individuals working as helpers has risen over the last 25 years. Previous studies have targeted groups such as therapists, social workers, physicians and nurses. However, volunteers as helpers have been largely neglected in the empirical literature. Most of the research works related to stress and refugees investigated the psychological conditions of refugees as a consequence of the traumatic events in their life and their life in exile. However, humanitarian workers, emergency response professionals, volunteers and others who work with refugees, for some length of time or hear their terrifying experiences can develop secondary trauma. Being compassionate people and motivated mostly by altruistic ideas, volunteers working with refugees might have a higher risk amongst these groups. The current investigation made one of the first contributions to research on volunteers assisting refugees and can stimulate the development of new hypotheses and create platforms for future research.