‘A life in Death’: A study of factors which impact on the maintenance of the wellbeing of UK Disaster Victim Identifiers (DVI)

• In Event: Improving the wellbeing and resilience of police personnel

Abstract

Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) is a process that follows Mass Fatality Incidents (MFI) include earthquakes, tsunamis, and large-scale terrorist attacks. It comprises a team deployed to collect and identify victims and return any remains to their families. Extant research on the wellbeing and resilience of those who work in this vital process is at best ‘emergent’ and at worst ‘neglected’. This paper explores how DVI can negatively affect the wellbeing of those working within it, how they deal/cope with these effects, and how they build and maintain emotional, psychological, and physical resilience. An exploratory constructionist grounded theory approach was adopted to facilitate a deep of understanding of the experiences of those involved, comprising twenty-five semi-structured interviews conducted with individuals either working in DVI or who had recently retired. Participants performed a variety of different DVI roles and duties. A thematic analysis was conducted which highlighted sixteen themes including: the motivations for volunteering, personal rewards that working in DVI brings, the true nature of deployment, self-awareness about the effects of DVI on their own psychological, emotional, and physical wellbeing, and common coping strategies employed to deal with any negative impacts on personal wellbeing. The paper concludes with a proposed model of DVI wellbeing that highlights important risks to and protective factors important in maintaining DVI investigators’ wellbeing, and discussion of the implications of the findings in terms of DVI staff wellbeing and practice. Suggestions and recommendations are made for further practice and research in this area.

Authors

• Natalie-Louise Gorton, Crime and Policing Research Centre, University of Huddersfield

• Jason Roach, University of Huddersfield