ORCID
- Lijun Tang: 0000-0002-6815-0625
Abstract
As the current COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting crew change crisis exacerbates the mental health problem faced by seafarers, various maritime stakeholders have mobilised their resources and strengths to provide a variety of supportive measures to address the issue. This paper aims to find out what measures have been adopted in the industry and how widely they have been experienced/received by seafarers and evaluate their effectiveness. To achieve this aim, this research employed a mixed methods design involving qualitative interviews with 26 stakeholders and a quantitative questionnaire survey of 817 seafarers. The research identified a total number of 22 mental health support measures, all of which were perceived to have contributed positively to seafarers’ mental health. However, not all of them were widely available to or utilised by seafarers. The findings also highlighted the importance of family, colleagues, shipping companies, and government agencies, as they are associated with the most effective support measures, namely communication with family, timely crew changes, being prioritised for vaccination, being vaccinated, and a positive and collegial atmosphere on-board. Based on the findings, recommendations are provided.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2022-11-01
Publication Title
Marine Policy
Volume
145
ISSN
1872-9460
Acceptance Date
2022-09-01
Deposit Date
2022-06-09
Embargo Period
2022-09-08
Funding
We are very grateful for the Lloyd's Register Foundation in the UK for funding this research (grant number: Sg2\100046). We would also like to thank the Chinese seafarers’ website (https://54seaman.com/) and maritime academies in the Philippines and Bangladesh for helping us distribute the questionnaire and thank all the seafarers and other key maritime stakeholders for participating in this research.
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, Crew change crisis, Depression and anxiety, Mental health, Seafarer well-being, Seafarers’ welfare
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Tang, L., Abila, S., Kitada, M., Malecosio, S., Jr, S., & Montes, K. (2022) 'Seafarers’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: an examination of current supportive measures and their perceived effectiveness', Marine Policy, 145. Available at: 10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105276
