Motivation for Volunteering in the Context of Family Sanation

Volunteering motivation issues in the framework of family support

In the context of Czech social work, volunteering has held an irreplaceable place for many years in general. Nevertheless, this topic is not always given the attention it rightly deserves. Volunteering and its irreplaceable role in the context of helping professions is clear. It represents a benefit not only for the person (the client) receiving help. It is also a source of joy, fulfillment, and experience for the volunteer themself.

As a volunteer, we understand someone who "performs a certain activity out of goodwill, from inner conviction, and without needing to receive financial compensation." (Švestková in Slowík, 2011, s. 44). The European Volunteer Centre places volunteering in a broader context and views it as follows: "Volunteering is a means of social inclusion and integration. It contributes to social cohesion, creates ties of trust and solidarity, and thereby contributes to the development of social capital. It is a powerful source of reconciliation and reconstruction in divided societies." (European Volunteer Centre, 2016)

A specific place is then held by volunteering in the context of family sanation. Family sanation according to Matoušek represents the protection and support of a family at risk with the purpose of preserving such a family as a whole (In Bechyňová, Konvičková, 2008). By the term family sanation we mean all "procedures that support family functioning that are the opposite of procedures excluding a family member because someone is at risk, or because someone in the family is threatened." (Matoušek in Bechyňová, Konvičková, 2008, s. 17).

The main goal of this paper is to find out what motivates, respectively what motives volunteers have for their volunteer activity in the field of family sanation. For information gathering, within a qualitative research strategy, the technique of a semi-structured interview was selected (see Hendl, 2016). Respondents in the research survey are volunteers who are engaged in volunteer work within the sanation program of one specific organization. In the rest of the text, for simplicity, we will use only the terms respondent/respondents only, even though both men and women were contacted within the research study. The research was carried out in the first quarter of 2017.

The concepts of volunteer and family sanation were briefly defined already in the introduction. We therefore focus only here on emphasizing the specific demands that family sanation places on the volunteer as a person performing activities associated with helping and providing services for families with children. Work with a client in the family sanation program requires the volunteer primarily to have experience with the functioning of an ordinary family. A suitable family-sanation volunteer, therefore, could for example be a mother who raises children and has time available for volunteer work. Likewise, it can be a woman/mother of pension age who wants to become engaged in active life. A student can also be admitted into the family-sanation volunteer program. For students who wish to participate as volunteers, personal maturity is required given the intensity of the program. Education is also assessed—an advantage is humanistic tertiary study or completed tertiary education. Men are, of course, not excluded from the circle of family-sanation volunteers. (Metodika služby sanace rodiny, 2009)

The volunteer profile is derived from the activity they will perform within the family. Direct work with the family is performed by the responsible family-sanation professional; the volunteer is under their supervision and performs only supplementary activities. The intensity of direct supervision by the responsible worker depends on the character of the volunteer’s activities and the length of time the volunteer has been in the role. The content of volunteer activity in the family-sanation program is primarily oriented toward practising parental skills. The practice can concern care of the child, building a relationship with the child and spending time together, upbringing of older children, school preparation and suitable forms of learning, or household care. In the sanation program, the volunteer does not assume the parent’s role or take over the parent’s activities; on the contrary, they involve the parent as much as possible. Through practical practice, the volunteer passes on their experiences and skills to the parent. By participating in everyday activities, the volunteer helps not only the parent but also the whole family work on the essential habits needed for stable family functioning. (Metodika služby sanace rodiny, 2009)

Motivation for Volunteer Activity in the Context of Family Sanation

The research is focused on examining motivation, or motives, for volunteer activity in the context of family sanation. The researchers’ decisions of these motives is based on volunteers choosing to invest their time and energy in work for others. Motives can generally be understood as enduring behavioral factors—they are the factors that enable a person to begin a certain activity (Švancara, 1984; Homola 1977). We can also understand them as "human action aimed at satisfying a certain need." (Hartl and Hartlová, 2015, s. 327). Reflections on motives raise the question related to the concept of motivation, which is a higher-order term in relation to motives. Different authors differ in defining motivation, and for the purposes of this text we adopt Graumann’s definition: "That in us and around us that leads, pushes, forces us to behave this way and not another way." (Graumann in Nakonečný, 1997, s. 102). This definition includes aspects of internal motives, external motives, and behavior, as for example Plháková also mentions (2004). The relationship between motivation and motives is also addressed by Nakonečný. He understands motivation as a certain psychological process, while motive represents a disposition toward this process (Nakonečný, 1997).

Research methodology

The aim of the text is to find out what motivation, respectively what motives, volunteers have for their volunteer activity in the field of family sanation. This goal is further broken down into four subsidiary goals. Determine which motives influenced respondents to engage in volunteering. Determine which motives led respondents to become volunteers specifically in the field of family sanation. Determine which motives influence respondents to continue their volunteer activity. Determine which motives respondents consider risky.

All respondents in the conducted research are volunteers of one organization. This non-governmental nonprofit organization has been operating since 2003 and for over eight years has offered volunteers the opportunity to engage in a volunteer program for family protection and support. The organization was selected mainly because it is a typical organization in terms of how volunteers are involved in the family-sanation program—the volunteer performs supplementary activity and is under the supervision of a sanation worker. To preserve anonymity, we do not state the exact name of the organization. Of the total twelve volunteers active in the organization, nine respondents were obtained for interviews. Respondent selection was designed so that interviews could include volunteers both among students and among working and older volunteers. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with respondents.

Research findings Motives of respondents for volunteer activity None of the respondents mentioned only one area or theme on which they would base their engagement in volunteer work—there was always a complex of several different partial motives.

Most frequently cited was the theme of career development (motives related to practice and experiences that volunteers can later apply in their future careers). The second most significant theme was acquiring new information, knowledge, and skills. The topic of recognized life values (humanism, altruism) was also mentioned. The theme of strengthening the volunteer’s social ties was also significantly valued and perceived. However, what were described as self-interested motives also appeared; these can be understood as a natural part of volunteering. In this context, volunteer activity may also be used as a means of eliminating one’s own negative emotions, such as guilt. Even these motives were recorded for some individual respondents in the research carried out.

Motives of respondents for volunteer activity in the context of family sanation Most respondents had encountered the issue of family sanation either during studies or in employment in social work or another helping profession. The target group of families with children was perceived by them as attractive and interesting. Theoretical knowledge acquired regarding family sanation was perceived by respondents as an important motive for engaging as a volunteer specifically in the context of family sanation. Even more significant for them, however, from this perspective were information regarding the activities of the specific organization providing family sanation. A very important factor therefore proved to be volunteers’ link to that specific organization. It appears that among respondents, positive recommendations and evaluations of the organization by other people, especially both formal and informal authorities, played a large role.

Motives of respondents for staying in volunteer activity Another studied area was the subjectively perceived benefit of volunteer activity for volunteers and their motives for continuing in this activity. Some respondents in this context particularly emphasize the possibility of gaining new information and obtaining practice for their future profession as a social worker/practitioner. Others consider it important to have a meaningful personal experience and joy from volunteer work, or the possibility to build a mutually respectful relationship with the client. Respondents report no unmet expectations that could represent a potential threat to their volunteer activity. Volunteers consider feedback from the employing organization to be very important, as well as the possibility of turning to the organization and its professional staff with their own problems. The possibility of supervision was often mentioned as an important and positively perceived element of “care” for volunteers. Staying in volunteer work is also supported by respondents’ close surroundings, including family. A negative reaction to their volunteer activity was recorded by only one respondent.

Motives assessed by respondents as risky Among the risky motives for volunteer activity, according to respondents, are primarily the desire for self-sacrifice on the one hand and the desire for power over the client on the other. As stated above, they can in many cases lead to a loss of the client’s trust in the volunteer, and consequently in the entire organization.

Conclusion

The main goal of the presented text was to find out what motivation, respectively what motives, volunteers have for their volunteer activity in the field of family sanation. For data collection, within a qualitative research strategy, the technique of a semi-structured interview was chosen. The respondents in the research were volunteers who engage in volunteer activity within the sanation program of one specific organization. The research found how volunteers of the given organization perceive the theme of motives for volunteer activity, the theme of motives for volunteer activity in the context of family sanation, how they perceive the theme of motives that support them to continue volunteering, and the theme of risky motives for volunteer activity.

Authors: Bc. Petra Boštíková, Mgr. Lucie Smutková, Ph.D. This article is one of the outputs of a specific research project in social work for the year 2016/2017 supported by Univerzitou Hradec Králové titled Současné přístupy v sociální práci s rodinou (služby pro rodinu v ohrožení - sanace rodiny, rodinná mediace), č. 2101/2016-2017. List of bibliographic references

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