Postmission Altruistic Identity Disruption Questionnaire (PostAID/Q): identifying humanitarian-related distress during the reintegration period following international humanitarian aid work

Psychological care of humanitarian personnel exposed to high-risk environments is not standardized across the sector. Particularly, returnees experiencing reintegration distress specific to prior aid deployment is randomly addressed. The Postmission Altruistic Identity Disruption Questionnaire (PostAID/Q), an 18-item self-report screening tool, attempts to standardize assessment of reintegration/specific distress in returnees from humanitarian deployment. When individuals high in altruistic identity (AI) perceive invalidation or lack of support from organization, family, or society after a difficult deployment, they may experience altruistic identity disruption (AID) manifest by interrelated feelings of isolation, doubt, and self-blame. Paradoxically, AID distress can precipitate attempts to redeploy prematurely leaving any prior adverse/traumatic responses unresolved. This study compared the discriminant validity of PostAID/Q with standardized measures of distress and social support (the Revised Impact of Event Scale, General Health Questionnaire-12, and Social Provisions Survey). The construct demonstrated significant predictive value, high internal consistency, and significant variance over and above the other constructs. Promisingly, PostAID/Q shows utility in predicting reintegration/specific distress postmission.