Volunteering As a Motivation Factor For Older People
Author: Pavelek, Lukas , lukas.pavelek@gmail.com
Department: Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work
University: University of Trnava, Slovakia
Supervisor: prof. Ing. Libusa Radkova, PhD.
Year of completion: 2011
Language of dissertation: Slovak
Keywords:
Volunteering
, Senior
, Social capital
, Motivation
Areas of Research:
Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management
, Health
, Leisure
Abstract
The dissertation describes senior volunteering and the factors that influence it. The work is based on the theory of second demographic transition, and the theories of social capital and civic engagement. The author investigates the motivation, benefits of, and barriers to volunteering and indicates future trends. A part of the research consists of a qualitative study scanning the situation of senior volunteers in Slovakia. The main research design was the grounded theory approach. Semi-structured interviews and various other textual data sources served as the backbone of the analytical part. The qualitative part of the research was complemented with non-parametric exact statistical procedures. The main goal of the study was to identify the motives for volunteering among the elderly, investigate various factors connected with this phenomenon, and to improve the ways NGOs can approach this population. The findings suggest that volunteering can improve the individual life of the senior, although many barriers and obstacles were identified too.
