Samenvatting

Recently, multiple studies have been published about the mental wellbeing of seafarers. It turned out that the mental wellbeing is not good, and it has been deteriorating for multiple years. One of these reports was published, by Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC) in October 2019. This study was even picked up by the British Broadcasting Corporation, and therefore it did not remain unseen for the researcher as well. De researcher wondered if this situation was also occurring at Dutch shipping companies, and what possibly could be done to improve the situation. Hereon contact was established with a shipping company who saw the importance of mental wellbeing, in collaboration with this company a survey was conducted on board of their complete fleet. A total of 119 surveys were collected. These were used to achieve the goal of this study: creating insight in the mental state of mind of the seafarers within the company and find out how it can be improved. So that the shipping company can undertake more effective measurements, with as outcome the improvement of the mental wellbeing of seafarers / decreasing depressions on board. In combination with the following main- and sub questions, this goal was to be achieved.

With the following main question:
What can be done to improve mental health on board of a vessel?
And as sub questions:
1.What are the causes of a depression on board of a vessel?
2.What are the consequences of a depression on board of a vessel?
3.How does the law protect seafarers mentally?
4.What is currently the general mental state of mind of seafarers?
With the help of surveys, containing various statements about the mental state of the participants, a number of factors were figured out. This is applicable for: the mental state, factors which can improve it, and factors which have the most negative impact. After the surveys were processed with the help of Google Forms and Excel, it was shown that the mental wellbeing of seafarers within the company had a score of 84,86 points out of 115. According to the conditions earlier set in this research, a score of 84,86 points means that, the state of mind is positive. It is of importance to mention that these surveys were conducted before the consequences of COVID-19 were noticeable, most likely this would have effect on the results. This is not the only thing which might have affected the results. The surveys were based on self-identification, while this is not a strong point of humans (Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2009).
Another thing which was concluded based on the collected survey is, that stress/pressure is the main cause of a decreased mental state of mind for seafarers within the company. With the help of various research methods, the consequences were tracked down: it turns out that the effect is noticeable in multiple fields. Not only the mental wellbeing is affected but the physical as well, depression causes the functioning of a person to be worse and the chances of incidents increase. In the Maritime Labour Convention (2006) multiple regulations are included, which protect the mental wellbeing of seafarers.Yet as found in this research, multiple statements leave room for own interpretation. Even though the positive outcome of the survey, there were multiple points of improvement for the company, so the recommendation reads as followed: improve the internet (Data-capacity, stability and speed), research the possibilities to reduce pressure/stress on board of vessels and keep investing in improving the food quality.