The Headington research team

Part of the Center for Study in Stress, Trauma and Adjustment, 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

• Risk and Resilience in Urban Ministry: Stress, Spirituality, and Support
• Trauma and Spiritual Development in Urban Ministry Workers Project
• Longitudinal Study of Stress in Humanitarian Aid Workers (CDC and Antares Collaboration)
  
• The Cross-Sectional Studies of Stress in National Humanitarian Aid Workers (CDC and Antares Collaboration)
• Guatemalan Aid Worker Support Project
• Post Election Violence in Nairobi Kenya

Contact this team »
 

Risk and Resilience in Urban Ministry: Stress, Spirituality, and Support

Investigator: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson

Research team: Jean Min and Sean Love

Project Summary
The project was designed to extend organizational knowledge of current ministry staff needs experience of stressors, and level of personal functioning. Key findings are the chronic and traumatic stressors existing in the urban ministry context; the extent of adverse experiences in childhood reported by staff and volunteers; the report of why individuals do not access needed services; and the levels of burnout and posttraumatic stress disorder.

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. 

For the full 2007 report, please click here.

Trauma and Spiritual Development in Urban Ministry Workers Project

Investigator: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson

Research team: Thomas Duke, Amy Kim, Susan Sheu, and Ann Yeh

Project Summary
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 way s 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 used time in 2008-2009 to begin the literature review that will support the project design and data collection in early 2010. 

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Longitudinal Study of Stress in Humanitarian Aid Workers: Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Antares Foundation Collaboration

Investigators: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson, Dr. David Foy

Research Team: Kimberly Michael, Ann Yeh

Project Summary
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.
Project Details

The objectives of this research project include:

1. To identify aspects of work associated with elevated risk of poor mental health and burnout in aid workers.
2. To identify the risk and resilience factors moderating the impact of such stressors on mental health.
3. To provide recommendations for selection, training, and management of aid workers, and effective intervention for stressed individuals.

Project is funded by the CDC, Atlanta, GA.

The Cross-Sectional Studies of Stress in National Humanitarian Aid Workers

Investigators: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson

Research Team: Jeffrey Ansloos, Thomas Duke, Kimberly Michael, and Ann Yeh

Project Summary
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, CA, USA, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, LA, USA, and the Antares Foundation, Netherlands.

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Guatemalan Aid Worker Project

Investigators: Dr. Katharine M. Putman, Dr. David Foy

Research team: Autumn Gallegos, Jarrett Ellington, and Julia Lea

Project Summary
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 conducted through a survey of 135 aid workers and focus groups of several Guatemalan non-governmental organizations. Focus groups also explore culturally specific religious coping among these participants.
 

Post Election Violence in Nairobi, Kenya

Investigators: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson

Research team: Hana Shin and Melinda Tomosada

Project Summary
The Oasis Counseling Center is founded and run by a Fuller 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 reconciliations seminars after the election violence of early 2008.  The 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. 

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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).