Antarctic stations as workplaces: Adjustment of winter-over crew members

Abstract

The living conditions at Antarctic stations can be challenging for support personnel. It has been; suggested that the experience of isolation and confinement can contribute to the emergence of the; winter-over syndrome. The present study adopts a Person-Environment fit approach to investigate; individual adjustment to the social constraints of an Isolated and Confined Environment (ICE). The; study gathered monthly data from 14 participants from five different stations, run by different National Antarctic Programmes. Results revealed that a lack of privacy generated by the confinement is associated with sleep disturbance. In addition, a high level of loneliness, experienced as a result of the; isolation, is positively related to cognitive impairment and negatively related to job satisfaction and; positive/negative mood ratio. The results further suggest that loneliness can be predicted by a predeployment; measure of need for affiliation, as well as levels of the personality traits of agreeableness; and extraversion.