Protective Factors of Resilience and Well-Being Among Natural Hazard Event Helpers: A Rapid Systematic Literature Review

The management of natural hazard events has significant consequences for the well-being of the operators who find themselves intervening in these situations. In order to protect their mental health and ensure an effective response in support of the community, it is necessary to identify the factors that protect the well-being and resilience of operators and to exploit and enhance them. This rapid systematic literature review aims to detect and summarize evidence about protective factors of resilience and well-being among natural hazard events helpers; the literature was searched for on Scopus, Web of Science, Pub-med, and PsycINFO, resulting in 876 records. After a full-text screening, 84 records were selected to meet the inclusion criteria and examined in this paper. The results underline the variety of research methods and samples adopted by the included studies. Moreover, the results highlight the relevance of both the role of individual factors, such as personality aspects, coping strategies, and the level of exposure to the disaster/community, and the role of organizational/social factors, such as training, organizational issues and social support on the well-being and resilience of helpers. In conclusion, this rapid review indicates that the empowerment of helpers is an important source of resilience; it must be promoted inside the organization both at an individual and supportive level (through, for example, training on self-care strategies) and at a more organizational and social level, enhancing internal and team resources.