Assessing psychological adaptation during polar winter-overs: The isolated and confined environments questionnaire (ICE-Q)

Stressors in Isolated, Confined, Extreme environments (ICE environments) pose important challenges to psychological adaptation, whose assessment is therefore an important research issue. This article describes a standardized instrument, the ICE-Q, to help evaluate individual differences in adaptation to ICE environments. Several groups (n = 140), each spending one year in sub-Antarctic or Antarctic stations, completed a questionnaire. Factor analyses provided strong evidence for the construct validity of the ICE-Q. The most salient factors were (a) social (e.g., relationships, social support), (b) emotional (e.g., emotional changes, boredom) (c) occupational (e.g., level of investment in work and leisure activities), and (d) physical (e.g., fatigue, well-being). Complementing other methods, this short, quick, cost-effective and non-invasive measure could serve to (1) monitor psychological adaptation within the four key domains, and (2) assess methods used to facilitate adaptation to extreme situations and enhance the health and well-being of participants.