Volunteering in the Context of Family Support

Abstract

Introduction: The present paper is focused on identifying the motives of volunteers working in a family support program. Volunteers’ motivation was identified by means of interviews while the objects under observation were volunteers in an unnamed non-profit organization in the Pardubice Region, offering services to families with children. Objective: The main objective is to identify volunteers’ motives for their volunteering work in the family support program. Methodology: A qualitative research strategy was used for the research. A semi-structured interview method was utilized for data collection. Results: The research has revealed that volunteers’ motives primarily involved gaining experience and obtaining practical skills they could later use in their future careers. The second most important factor turned out to be knowledge-related as the volunteers were motivated by obtaining new information and learning new things. The third position was occupied by the area of life values. The respondents mentioned especially their altruistic and humanistic motives and the related selfless help to others. Apart from the above-stated, the research was also focused on identifying the motives that made the volunteers choose family support as their area of work. According to their responses, a significant motive turned out to be the target group of families with children. Another motive was also the prestige of the corresponding organization and the related positive references obtained by the volunteers from their friends. Conclusion: Gaining new experience, practical skills related to preparation for a future career and altruism and the related selfless help to others, as well as an open and friendly relationship to the client turned out to be important motives. The research showed that it is an important factor for the respondents what target group they are supposed to work with.