MC Tools—11

CHOPS Inventory

Supporting A4 Workers

Chennai, India: family en route with sleeping child
April 2012 © MOD
 

This is our 200^th weblog entry.

The first weblog entry was exactly six years ago, on 28 December 2006.

So we are celebrating six years and 200 blog entries of

reflections, research, and resources for good practice.

Deo gratias.

.

 The final tool in this series of entries is an updated version of our favourite one: the CHOPS Inventory. We developed the first version of this tool in 1990 as a way to review struggles for mission workers. Since then it has been expanded to include: more categories; an emphasis on successes and strategies in addition to struggles; applicability for mission/aid workers (not just faith-based workers); and translations into seven languages.

.

The latest version of CHOPS (shared below for the first time) now includes examples of additional challenges that are often experienced by mission/aid colleagues from the A4 regions (African, America-Latina, Arabic-Turkic, Asian). These additions can be summarised in terms of family, finances, and freedom, with all three being permeated by the challenges of maintaining faith-focus vs fear-anxiety. See the items below in green font.

 *****

CHOPS Inventory

Revised December 2012: Click here for a pdf version

Cross-cultural workers can have experiences that make them feel like "sheep in the midst of wolves." This exercise explores ten "wolves"—which we refer to as stressors—that these workers frequently encounter. We use the acronym "CHOPS" as a way to help identify and deal with these stress-producing "wolves". Note that each stressor can be both a source of stress and/or a symptom of stress. 

Directions 1. Using a separate piece of paper, write down some of the stressors that you have experienced over the past several months. Refer to the 10 stressors and some of the examples mentioned below. Put these under a column labelled "Struggles."   2. In a second column, "Successes", list some of the helpful ways you have dealt with stress during the last several months.   3. Next, under a "Strategies" column, list ideas for better managing stress in the future.   4. You may also want to do the same with or for some important people in your life, such as individuals and groups found at the bottom of this page. Discuss your responses with a close friend.

.

Struggles      Successes ___Strategies

Cultural (getting needs met in unfamiliar ways: language learning, culture shock, reentry) feeling rejected, overlooked, or undervalued by the dominant “international” mis/aid culture; gender bias, prejudice, lack of opportunity/freedom

 
Crises (potentially traumatic events: natural disasters, wars, accidents, political instability protracted armed conflicts and physical threats, one’s own community and country affected
 
Historical (unresolved past areas of personal and social struggle: family of origin issues, personal weaknesses) lack of educational, health, economic opportunities (i.e. social determinants of health)
 
Human (relationships: with family members, colleagues, nationals: raising children, couple conflict, struggles with team members, social opposition) caring for ageing parents, few school options, human rights violations, persecution, discrimination, stigma
 
Occupational (job-specific challenges and pressures: work load, travel schedule, exposure to people with problems, job satisfaction, more training, government "red tape") job insecurity, short-term contracts, mis/aid work not understood or respected
 
Organisational (governance and management: incongruence between one's background and the organisational ethos, policies, work style, expectations; incompetence, corruption, abusive leadership, dysfunction, disability practices) legal protection, training
 
Physical (overall health and factors that affect it: nutrition, climate, illness, ageing, environment) no medical resources/insurance and inadequate nutritional options, injuries/road traffic accidents
 
Psychological (overall emotional stability and self-esteem: loneliness, frustration, depression, unwanted habits, developmental issues/stage of life issues) cumulative impact of “adverse life events”
 
Support (resources to sustain one's work: finances, housing, clerical/technical help, donor contact minimum pay and financial support, finances used for survival and not just for one’s mis/aid work
.
Spiritual (God and/or transcendent values: meaning, evil, inner growth, practices/disciplines) lack of trust/respect for spiritual leaders
.

Answers apply to (circle):
self, spouse, child, friend, department, team, company, other

Earlier version available in
Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, German,Spanish, and Portuguese

©2012 Dr. Kelly O’Donnell and Dr. Michèle Lewis O’Donnell

*****

Want to know more about challenges for those from A4 regions? See the article by John Fawcett, Supporting Local Staff, including the two short case studies at the end by Viola Mukasa.

.
Want to go even further? See the three articles that overview challenges for workers from Latin America, India, and Africa as well as the short case examples for workers in and/or from China. Available at: www.chinamembercare.org (see table of contents in English; this site also includes materials in traditional/simplified Chinese along with Mandarin audio files).
.
Do you have suggestions for improving CHOPS, including A4-related items? Contact us at:

MCAresources@gmail.com 

Member Care and Lausanne 3: Blog Six

Managing Stress for Mission/Aid Workers:

Self-Assessment Tools

The Lausanne 3 Conference brought together some 4000 people this past October (2010) in South Africa. Here are excerpts from one of the seven MCA blogs on the Global Conversation portal at Lausanne 3.

The main question of this particular blog: How can we support mission/aid workers so that they are as healthy and effective as possible? Are sending groups doing a good job supporting their national/local and international staff? Yes, No, or Probably?!

(Video clip from Humanitarian Policy http://www.humanitarianpolicy.org/)

“Effective pre-mission training must begin with instilling awareness of the need for security and psychosocial support in the culture of organizations. Patched together, ad hoc, or solely programatic efforts will have only minimal impact. Security and support must be integrated, both structurally and functionally, into the mainstream of pre-field mission operations: mission planning, staffing, and budgeting.” Yael Danieli, Sharing the Front Line and the Back Hills (2002), p. 383

*****

Stress Assessment

Here is a stress assessment tool (13 items) from ta booklet by the International Federation of the Red Cross, Managing Stress in the Field (2001).  It is based on “The Relief Worker Burnout Questionnaire” in Coping with Disaster, 1999, by John H. Ehrenreich. http://helid.digicollection.org/en/d/Js2897e/6.html

Instructions: Rate each of the following items in terms of how much the symptom was true of you the last month. 0 = Never 1 = Occasionally 2 = Somewhat often 3 = Frequently 4 = Almost always

__1. Do you tire easily? Do you feel fatigued a lot of the time, even when you have gotten enough sleep?

__2. Are people annoying you by their demands and stories about their daily activities? Do minor inconveniences make you irritable or impatient?

__3. Do you feel increasingly critical, cynical or disenchanted?

__4. Are you affected by sadness you can’t explain? Are you crying more than usual?

__5. Are you forgetting appointments, deadlines, personal possessions? Have you become absent-minded?

__6. Are you seeing close friends and family members less frequently? Do you find yourself wanting to be alone and avoiding even your close friends?

__7. Does doing even routine things seem like an effort?

__8. Are you suffering from physical complaints such as stomach aches, headaches, lingering colds, general aches and pains?

__9. Do you feel confused or disoriented when the activity of the day stops?

__10. Have you lost interest in activities that you previously were interested in or even enjoyed?

__11. Do you have little enthusiasm for your work? Do you feel negative, futile, or depressed about your work?

__12. Are you less efficient than you think you should be?

__13. Are you eating more (or less), smoking more cigarettes, using more alcohol or drugs to cope with your work?

Total Score: (Add up scores for items 1-13)

Interpretation: No formal norms are available for this measure. Based on the content of the items, a score of 0-15 suggests the delegate is probably coping adequately with the stress of his or her work. A score of 16-25 suggests the worker is suffering from work stress and would be wise to take preventive action. A score of 26-35 suggests possible burnout. A score above 35 indicates probable burn out.

Notes:

**See the CHOPS Adjustment Inventory (in several languages) and other free assessment tools at our MCA Reality DOSE web site.

**See the 2010 update of the Operational Security Manual in Violent Environments, from Humanitarian Policy Network (download it for free---discuss and apply!)

Reflection and Discussion
1. What did you think about the video clip on safety for humanitarian workers? What were the main points and how effective was it?

2. Take the assessment tool above on stress assessment. What did you learn about yourself and how might you better manage stress?

3. How can some of the above resources be used in your setting?