Minding the Gap: Mental Health Education and Standards of Seafarer Education

Introduction

This chapter advocates for the integration of mental health education to be part of the standards of maritime education and training (hereinafter referred to as MET) because increasing research evidence is showing that seafarers suffer from poor mental health outcomes when spending their careers at sea. In the academic literature, the concept of mental health education could be understood as integral in the promotion of mental health. Mental health promotion refers to multi-level strategies that aim to produce positive contributions to mental health such as education on psychological resilience in highly stressful work environments such as seafaring. The concept of resilience could be defined as the ability to “bounce back” from trauma or adversity (Luthans et al., 2006). Viewed this way, various strategies such as global standards, national regulations, MET programs, and individual practices intended to develop or protect ‘good’ mental health are interventions promoting mental health.

This proposal of promoting seafarers’ mental health through MET is framed within a human rights-based approach anchored to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The focus on the mental health of seafarers is aligned particularly with SDG number 3 (good health and well-being) as well as SDG number 8 (decent work) where improvements of health and well-being in workplaces might be attained through scientific research (see UN, 2015). As such, this chapter lays down an advocacy for the development, implementation and monitoring of maritime standards for mental health education of seafarers based on human rights and human rights law. In particular, the existing standards for MET, employment, and welfare of merchant seafarers have to be re-examined to integrate human rights to these standards, particularly to seafarers’ education. As an advocacy paper, the author acknowledges it is prone to valid and robust counter-arguments, and counter-positions. However, this paper argues that human rights-based approaches in analysing social issues in merchant seafaring is as robust and justifiable compared to other perspectives.

The following sections lay down the narrative of this chapter, which is based on a PhD research. The next section reviews the standards of MET for merchant seafarers by identifying a gap in the text of the standards in order to advocate for the promotion of seafarers’ mental health by integrating mental health education as part of the standards. To further this advocacy, a succeeding section examines studies on mental health of seafarers as evidence used to justify the need to promote the mental health of seafarers through education. Moreover, the proposed promotion of mental health through education of seafarers is anchored to the potentials of integrating human rights and human rights law to maritime standards. It will be followed by using the case of the Philippines, which is an established seafaring labour supply country and where recent development in this country’s mental health law engenders the integration of mental health education for would-be Filipino seafarers. Studying this country is crucial because it can serve as a test case in potentially introducing mental health education to maritime education for other labour supply countries. The chapter ends with some concluding remarks and future research directions relevant to the promotion of mental health of seafarers through education and training.