The Headington Program has been established by the Headington family of Dallas, Texas. Their generous endowment supports research and consultation directed to the needs of cross-cultural ministry and humanitarian aid workers. Particularly central to the mission of the Headington Program are the topics of traumatic and chronic stress occurring in cross-cultural ministry settings, as well as the resulting challenges to caregiver adjustment.
Research Projects
- Stress in Humanitarian Aid Workers
- The Cross-Sectional Studies of Stress in National Humanitarian Aid Workers
- Post Election Violence in Nairobi, Kenya
- Stress and Adjustment in Urban Ministry Workers
- Trauma and Spiritual Development in Urban Ministry Workers Project
- Guatemalan Aid Worker Project
- Perspectives on Religious Coping and Spiritual Needs from Faith-Based Relief Workers from Kenya, Guatemala, and the United States
- Lab Posters
Stress in Humanitarian Aid Workers: Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Antares Foundation Collaboration. The Longitudinal Study of Stress in Humanitarian Aid Workers
Principle Investigator: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson
Co-Investigator: Dr. David Foy, Pepperdine University
The purpose of the longitudinal research project is to find out how stress affects the lives of international humanitarian aid workers and which factors contribute to this stress during 3 points of the deployment experience: pre-deployment, immediately post-deployment, and 3 to 6 months following return from deployment. Objectives of the research include:
- To identify aspects of work associated with elevated risk of poor mental health and burnout in aid workers.
- To identify the risk and resilience factors moderating the impact of such stressors on mental health.
- To provide recommendations for selection, training, and management of aid workers, and effective intervention for stressed individuals.
The outcomes of the research will be used to make recommendations to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on how to best prevent stress-related illness in their staff, to improve retention and productivity of aid workers, and to enhance the well-being of humanitarian aid workers around the world. Project is funded by the CDC, Atlanta.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Candace Coppinger, Daniel Martinez, Kimberly Michael, and Ann Yeh
The Cross-Sectional Studies of Stress in National Humanitarian Aid Workers
Principle Investigator: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson
It is generally agreed that 90% of all aid work is performed by individuals working in their own home setting. Therefore, in addition to the longitudinal study, the Antares research team has prioritized understanding the stresses inherent in the experience of aid workers employed or volunteering in their own national context. During the 2008-2009 academic year, the Headington Program faculty and students collaborated on national staff surveys in Amman, Jordan, and Gulu, Uganda.
Participating institutions are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, USA; University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, USA, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, USA, and the Antares Foundation, Diemen, Netherlands.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Jeffrey Ansloos and Thomas Duke
Post Election Violence in Nairobi, Kenya
Principle Investigator: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson
The Oasis Counseling Center is founded and run by a Fuller Seminary, School of Psychology alumnus, Dr. Gladys Mwiti. In July 2008, two doctoral students travelled to Nairobi, Kenya to support the process of entering clinical intervention data collected during trainings and reconciliation seminars after the election violence of early 2008. This data will be used to help answer questions about the nature of the relationships between types of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms, as well as the ways that Kenyans utilized different types of coping in response to the tragic events. In addition, the specific stressors of HIV/AIDS bereavement and resource loss will be examined.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Nikki Frederick, Kimberly Michael, Hana Shin, Bikat Tilahun, and Melinda Tomosada
Stress and Adjustment in Urban Ministry Workers: Risk and Resilience in Urban Ministry Project
Principle Investigator: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson
The Risk and Resilience in Urban Ministry project is funded by Fuller Youth Institute and it was designed to extend organizational knowledge of current staff needs, experience of stressors, and level of personal functioning. The survey assessing stressors, spirituality, resource utilization and personal functioning was sent to urban ministry organizations in 5 US cities: Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, Memphis, and Philadelphia. Surveys were returned between July 2006 and October 2006. Analysis of this data in the 2008-2009 academic year centered on the experience of chronic stress and burnout in workers who were urban teachers, as compared to non-teaching colleagues. In addition, the relationship between religious coping and early exposure to traumatic events was examined.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Jean Min Chan and Sean Love
Trauma and Spiritual Development in Urban Ministry Workers Project
Principle Investigator: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson
As a follow-up and extension of the 2007 study on Risk and Resilience, this research team has proposed a study to look more deeply at the ways that traumatic experiences influence one's development of faith and spirituality, as well as how spirituality may buffer the effects of trauma exposure. The lab is currently conducting focus groups and individual interviews of LA-based urban youth workers to investigate the themes related to these research questions. Research projects based on this data will be both practical application for training and enrichment of urban workers, as well as theoretical analysis related to how themes in the interviews enrich the understanding of how workers journey through traumatic experiences.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Candace Coppinger, Melissa Curri, Rachel Langford, Daniel Martinez, Ashley Wilkins, and Ann Yeh
Guatemalan Aid Worker Project
Principle Investigator: Dr. Katharine Meese Putman
Co-investigator: Dr. David Foy, Pepperdine University
The Guatemalan Aid Worker Project consisted of a survey of 135 aid workers in Guatemala as well as focus groups with several Guatemalan non-governmental organizations. This project assesses risk for direct and indirect trauma exposure and adverse outcomes among Guatemalan aid workers, specifically, community violence exposure, exposure to traumatic loss, complicated grief symptoms, posttraumatic stress symptoms, burnout, and private religious practices. The focus groups also explore culturally specific religious coping among these participants.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Jarret Ellington, Autumn Gallegos, and Julia Lea
Perspectives on Religious Coping and Spiritual Needs from Faith-Based Relief Workers from Kenya, Guatemala, and the United States
Principle Investigators: Dr. Katharine Meese Putman, Dr. Cynthia Eriksson & Dr. David Foy, Pepperdine University
This focus group study asked faith-based relief workers who responded to election violence in Kenya, to civil conflict and hurricanes in Guatemala, and to Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. for their perspectives on their own spiritual needs and religious coping as they responded to a large-scale traumatic event as well as the spiritual needs, reactions and religious coping experienced by trauma victims they served. Cross-cultural comparisons of findings are being investigated and manuscripts are currently in preparation. Archival data from focus group transcripts are available for student projects.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Robin Blair, Jarret Ellington, and Julia Lea
Posters
Barfoot, A., Gallegos, A., Hilleary, S., Min, J., Reeder, C., & Putman, K. M. (2006, November). Definitions and symptom conceptualizations of child abuse among parents from a Guatemalan community. Poster presented at the 22nd annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Hollywood, CA. Click here for poster (PDF).
Lantz, J., Townsend, C., Roberts, R., Foy, D. W., & Putman, K. M. (2006, November). Traumatic bereavement, community violence exposure, and PTSD among Guatemalan aid workers. Poster session presented at the 22nd annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Hollywood, CA. Click here for poster (PDF).
Lantz, J., Townsend, C., Roberts, R., Gallegos, A., Perry, L., Lea, J., Linscott, A., Chen, E., Foy, D. W., & Putman, K. M. (2007, June). Empowering change: Evaluating difficulties faced by Guatemalan aid workers. Poster presented at the 11th Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research in Action, Pasadena, CA. Click here for poster (PDF).
Lee, H., Shin, H., Min, J., Love, S., Tilahun, B., Gable, P., & Eriksson, C. (2007, June). Assessing the motivations of urban ministry workers: An exploratory study. Poster presented at the 11th Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research and Action, Pasadena, CA. Click here for poster (PDF).
Roberts, R., Potts, A., Gallegos, A., Lantz, J., Chen, E., Foy, D. W., Putman, K. M. (2007, June). Parental perceptions of child abuse and well-being in Guatemala. Poster session presented at the 11th Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research in Action, Pasadena, CA. Click here for poster (PDF).
Roberts, R., Potts, A., Gallegos, A., Lantz, J., Yeh, D., Putman, K. M., &. Foy, D. W. (2007, November). Burnout, PTSD, and spiritual practices among Guatemalan aid workers. Poster presented at the 23rd Annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Blatimore, MD. Click here for poster (PDF).
Shin, H., Lee, H., Walling, S., Min, J., Love, S., Perry, L. & Eriksson, C. (2007). Race, relocation, and resource utilization among urban ministry workers. Poster presented at the 11th Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research and Action, Pasadena, CA. Click here for poster (PDF).
Gable, P. G., Yeh, D.-A., & Eriksson, C. B. (2008, April). Religious coping and differences in religious tradition. Poster presented at the 2008 California Psychological Association Convention. Anaheim, CA.
Cree, E. R., Roberts, R. C., Yeh, D.-A., Felix, M., Lea, J., Lantz, J., Ansloos, J., Putman, K. M., & Eriksson, C. B. (2008, November). Language of secondary traumatic stress found among nonprofit national workers in Guatemala. Poster presented at the 24th annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Chicago, IL.
Love, S. M., Yeh, D.-A., Lee, H., Duke, T. C., Ansloos, J. P., Martinez Reyes, D., Richardson, K., Gardner Curri, M., & Eriksson, C. B. (2009, November). Chronic stress and burnout in a national sample of urban teachers. Poster presented at the 25th annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Atlanta, GA. Click here for poster (PDF).
Min, J., Yeh, D.-A., Duke, T. C., Tilahun, B. S., Kim, A. H., Ansloos, J. P., Tomosada, M., Liu, R. K., Richardson, K., & Eriksson, C. B. (2009, November). Adverse childhood experiences and religious coping in urban youth workers. Poster presented at the 25th annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Atlanta, GA. Click here for poster (PDF).
Yeh, D.-A., Frederick, N., Wilkins, A., Liu, R. K., Duke, T. C., Martinez Reyes, D., Ansloos, J. P., & Eriksson, C. B. (2009, November). Moving ministry workers through spiritual crises related to traumatic experiences. Poster presented at the 30th annual meeting of the Mental Health and Missions Conference. Angola, IN. Click here for poster summary (PDF).