THE NEEDS AND MOTIVATION OF THE HEALTHCARE STAFF WHO PARTICIPATED IN IDF’S HUMANITARIAN AID MISSIONS. A CASE STUDY

Abstract

Our paper presents some results of an extended qualitative study, aiming to explore the opinions of healthcare providers (aid workers) who participated in different humanitarian add missions, regarding their individual needs and motivations and the association of these motivations to the leadership style applied by the delegation’coordinators. In order to attain the objective of the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 people - executives, nurses and other medical staff who took part in humanitarian aid missions under the auspices of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). The research results highlight that among the basic needs of the healthcare providers during humanitarian aid missions, of mainly importance were the emotional needs for support and staying in touch with the own family. “Expression of leadership” comprises three characteristics/subcategories: eye level leadership, charismatic leadership and role model.

Keywords

• healthcare provider;
• humanitarian aid mission;
• leadership style;