The Experiences Of Seafarers From Manila In Overcoming Homesickness

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

On a board ship, seafarers face a lot of difficult challenges and sometimes it is difficult to cope up with it. Then seafarers tends to start thinking more about their homes and loved ones, to comfort them or relieve them from depression. Having a hard time or dealing with different challenges on your work while in the middle of the ocean could be terrifying. We all know that homesickness could lead to depression and when you’re depressed, you couldn’t do your job the right way or the way they should be done. Homesickness is something which is every seafarers experience while on boarding a ship, which can sometimes lead to depression. They focused more on their jobs and to motivate themselves to work hard for their family which they left behind in order to have a great future with them

According to Van Tilburg, Vingerhoets and Van Heck (1996) define homesickness as the commonly experienced state of distress among those who have left their house and home and find themselves in a new unfamiliar environment. The authors argue that home sickness is a big stressor which can cause ill-health in the people affected the author claim is not isolated. Other scientist such as Ekbland (1993), Leef et al. (1997) and Weissman and Paykel (1973) found evidence to support claims that homesickness affects health. If homesickness affects people on the move, even the voluntary migrants, then there is strong probability that it be more pronounced in expatriate populations. Indeed, the literature suggest that homesickness is common among displaced people and is an illness of socially disoriented and isolated people like seafarer. And this study will try to find different ways on how to overcome homesickness.

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Statement of Objectives/Statement of the Problem

1. How do the informants improve communication links to overcome home sickness?
2. What social activities do the informants organize to overcome home sickness?
3. What program/support did the company provide to help respondent overcome home sickness?

Significance of the Study

The findings of this research will prove useful to the following entities

• Filipino Seafarers: They will benefit from this study because the contents and findings would reveal the actual reactions of the seafarers towards homesickness. The seafarers can compare and validate their own experiences and reactions and be able to assess the logic of their decisions relative to the pursuance of their career
• Student Seafarer/Future Seaferer: They will benefit from this study because the contents and findings would reveal the actual happening in the filipino seafarer on board. So that they can have a insights what is life on board and they can formulate their own strategies
• Company: They will benefit from this study because the contents and findings would reveal the actual happening to their employee and they can use the findings of our study to give more assistance their employee regarding to homesickness

Future researcher: They will benefit from this study because the contents and findings of this study might be useful to their research as a related literature

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The scope and delimitation of this study are first we need to find seafarer who have experience in working onboard because while working in the sea they already formulate their own strategies in overcoming homesickness while on a limited space and resources. Second we have to set a certain time and place which is for the time at least a month in data gathering alone and we need to find those seafarer in Manila, Philippines only those are the scope and delimitation of our study.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction of the Literature Review

Fighting homesickness will depend among the seafarers' physical and mental capability. If seafarers first prioritize his / her work and family, nothing could go wrong because you are working safely and surely for there are people who are waiting for you to come home. Moving away from home has always led most people to feel homesick. Homesickness as a psychological state created by the prospect or the reality of social isolation continues to attract research attention. Much of the literature in international human resource management acknowledges that one of the key issues facing expatriates and international workers is related to adjustment to the new place. For instance Black, Mendenhall & Oddou (1991) identify a typology of adjustment difficulties formed of four major elements: individual factors, non-work factors, organizational factors and job factors. However, while issues of culture and the family occupy a central place, homesickness is not mentioned and the purpose of our literature review is to find a different literature or research to support our research

Conceptual Literature

The conceptual framework that we use in this study is linear model that is develop by Aerni (1998) and Flick (1995) the reason why liner model process because linear model have a step by step process that guide our study and in the end of it has product which suit our study that has a aim to have a list of strategies on how to overcome homesickness

Related Studies

Study 1: Pining for home: Studying crew homesickness aboard a cruise liner

According to Carolina Bardelle and Conradd Lashley (18,Jan,2017) Most people can experience homesickness at some time, when they move away from their home base. The experience of working on board a cruise liner can intensify these feelings, because of the enclosed and controlled nature of work and living space. This study reports on the incidence of homesickness where the crewmembers originate from very different cultural contexts than the one in which they work. Findings in this research suggest that whereas a large number of crew experienced homesickness sometimes, a substantial minority feel homesick very often, frequently or always. Crew homesickness should be seen as important by both shipboard and liner company management because it can ultimately impact on customer service experiences, and can be ameliorated by sensitive management policies and practices.

Study 2: How to deal with homesickness at university

According to the research conducted by Seeta Bhardwa (August,25,2017) or many people, university is the first time in their life that they might be living away from their families. It isn't always an easy topic to discuss as you are expected to be embrace your newfound independence with open arms. But sometimes, adjusting to life away from your home can be difficult, regardless of whether you’ve moved half an hour away or halfway around the world. Get out and keep busy While it might be tempting to just sit in your room, it’s important to get out even if it’s just for a short while. Grabbing some friends and going for a coffee, going to a society meeting, heading to the gym or even just making sure you’re going to all your lectures are all ways that you can get your mind off your homesickness. Scheduling social activities will give you things to look forward to and will help you to build a network at university too. Bring some home comforts when packing or university bring your favourite bedding, photos of your family and friends and any trinkets that might help make your university room feel as homely as possible. Take whatever you need to feel more comfortable in your surroundings. Call home (but not too often) If you try to stop yourself from calling home altogether, you will only miss them even more. Start by calling or texting every other day in the beginning and then it will slowly decrease as you begin to get busier with studies and social activities. Talk to people if your homesickness is getting to a point where you are finding it difficult to cope then try to speak to someone about it. Most universities will have counselling services that you can turn to for advice and support on how to deal with your feelings. Look after yourself your mental and physical health are linked so if you start neglecting your physical health, your mental health could start to go downhill too. It sounds simple but getting enough sleep, eating healthily and getting some exercise can really help to boost your well-being. Give yourself time

If you don’t love university the second you step on to campus, that is OK. Some students will take to university life like a duck to water, but if you take a little longer, there is no shame in that. It is quite a big life adjustment to make in so many ways, so don’t pressure yourself to settle in immediately.

Conversely don’t be alarmed if in the first term you don’t have any issues and then find yourself feeling homesick later on in the year. Homesickness can strike at any time, even during your final year, so don’t be too hard on yourself if it does happen to you.

Study 3: SeamanJobsite.com: 5 Proven Ways for Seafarers to Combat Homesickness

According to SeanmanJobsite.com (Oct 09, 2017) Seafaring is a noble and a rewarding profession but also challenging at it requires one to be away from his home and loved ones, be it for an inter-island or an international employment contract.

According to the study conducted by the students of Lyceum of the Philippines Laguna entitled “The Challenges of Filipino Seafarers Onboard: Basis for Work Life Balance” in 2015, one of the problems that seafarers often face onboard is homesickness. Researchers define it as “the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from home.' Hence, given the long periods seafarers spend in the ship amidst the ocean, this feeling of loneliness is common especially to the apprentices and novices.

On the bright side though, specialists are able to address this challenge to help seafarers cope up with homesickness. Here are 5 effective ways:

1. Love your profession and you will eventually enjoy each day doing it
2. Engage in more worthwhile activities.
3. Build rapport and befriend your colleagues.
4. Connect with your family as often as possible.
5. Hold on to your faith.

Data Gathering Procedure

The purpose of interviewing these seafarer all over Metro Manila is to get different perception regarding their experiences in working abroad and overcoming homesickness. The disadvantages, advantages and impact and in working overseas far from their families and country. Particularly you will be asked to do the following:

Conclusions

And now i conclude that communication can minimize homesickness and it help them to be comfortable while working and they form strong bond with each other and it help them to forget about problem for a certain time and through communicating they share knowledge and experiences that help them to overcome homesickness

And for the physical side we conclude that most of the participant said that they always exercise do some lifting and they initiate with the physical activity and as i said they do those thing with their own risk with limited resources and space and they do it creatively and it help them to overcome homesickness

And for the side of the company support as i said earlier they provide facility like gym that the participant can use to release some feelings like homesickness and for the socializing side the company provide Wi-Fi connection and telephone connection all provided by the company and it help them to overcome homesickness

Practical Implications

The practical implication of this research is that it can be used by the current seafarer and company why because this study didn’t focus mainly by the seafarer itself it focuses on both side the company and the employee that why it can be use by both side and for the seafarer it have to implication first is the physical the findings of this study stated that there are physical activity that can be perform on board and for the mental side the study suggest that the best way to relieve homesickness without doing physical activity like gym is communicating like video call and many more and for the company it suggest that most of the seafarer relive their homesickness by talking to their family back home and it said that seafarer need a more facility to perform physical activity

REFERENCES

1. Van Tilburg, Vingerhoets and Van Heck (1996)
2. Ekbland (1993)
3. Leef et al. (1997)
4. Weissman and Paykel (1973)
5. Pining for home: Studying crew homesickness aboard a cruise liner by.Carolina Bardelle and Conradd Lashley (18,Jan,2017)
6. How to deal with homesickness at university by.Seeta Bhardwa (August,25,2017)
7. SeamanJobsite.com: 5 Proven Ways for Seafarers to Combat Homesickness by. SeanmanJobsite.com (Oct 09, 2017)
8. Aerni (1998) and Flick (1995)