Psychological data from Scott Base winter staff surveys of incidents and their effect on mood while working and living in Antarctica

The occurrance of the 'third quarter' phenomenon - a downturn in mood occurring shortly after the midpoint of isolation - may be the result of different types of incidents and events that occur at particular times in the year. This study seeked to investigate the hypothesis that there are common dimensions (people, place or times) among these 'special incidents'. Psychological data was gathered using a well-validated personality scale and interview methodology. Semi-structured exploratory interviews were undertaken with Scott Base personell during Oct 1998 (initial pilot interview), February 1999 (interview to cover the period from October to February), August (prior to return to New Zealand) and October (return to New Zealand, final interview). The analysis targeted prototype events and using both content coding and quantitative analysis describes the structure of special incidents as experienced by past and present personnel to determine the relationships between event dimensions, personality characteristics and mood change. Data was collected over two years