This thesis has explored participation by adult volunteer workers of the Wapehani Girl Scout Council in central Indiana. This study involved 50 adults who were active members of the council at the time of the study and 50 adults who had been members of the council and were no longer active at the time of the study.A demographic questionnaire and a personality inventory were administered to each of the 100 participants in the study. The questionnaire involved the following information about each volunteer: age, sex, education, marital status, family income per year, size of community lived in, number of years in Scouting, membership in other organizations, number of children, number of daughters, number of daughters in Scouting, age at which daughters joined Scouts, and reasons for remaining or leaving Scouting. The personality inventory was the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, and it involved 15 variables: achievement, deference, order, exhibition, autonomy, affiliation, intraception, succorance, dominance, abasement, nurturance, change, endurance, heterosexuality, and aggression.

D.Ed / Communities in a society consist of individuals within those communities. There are many individual members in those communities who are not effectively involved in serving that society. This study focuses on guiding individual members in a society to effective service in their community. Individuals who report for service in a community are referred to as volunteers. Many people don’t experience full spiritual health because they live selfcentred lives. People don’t realize that there is value in community service. Making a difference in the community by voluntary service leads to inner fulfilment and meaning. To accompany volunteers in finding their places of service, the following research question was asked: “What can be done to further voluntary community service?” The aim of this study was the description, implementation and evaluation of a Psycho-Educational Program to mobilize service in individuals to thereby further mental health. From a methodological viewpoint a qualitative research strategy was applied to realize the purpose mentioned above. A method of scouting and describing was further applied. The field - work was done by means of semi-structured interviews with volunteers. The results obtained were analysed and categorized. The findings of the data were justified by means of literature control. The trustworthiness of the findings was assured in this way. The following main themes were identified: · Points of departure to discover your place of service · Establishing healthy relationships The results of the data analysis show that the volunteer wants to know what value community service has to offer before he makes his time available for service. The volunteer’s involvement in the community should benefit his spiritual health by his experiencing meaning, peace and even health. The research indicated the fact that the volunteer should move through a process of self-discovery to find his place of service. When the volunteer discovers who he is and organizes his life accordingly, it should promote meaning to life. In the research it surfaced that volunteers in many cases experience that human relationships are inadequate. People from different backgrounds and with different types of personality form part of the community team. Therefore an effort should be made to further healthy inter-personal relationships. It is necessary that volunteers develop the social skills to promote healthy inter-personal relationships. In the research it also became clear that the facilitator plays an important role in the volunteer’s guiding process. He must guide the volunteer to find his place of service and to make him part of the community. Subsequently a service program for volunteers was developed. The program was developed out of the themes and categories. The program’s intent is to guide the volunteer in discovering his place of service. By being involved in the field of service which compliments his true “I” or identity, mental health will be attained. Secondly the program’s intent is to equip facilitators so that volunteers can be empowered for service. In conclusion the implementation and evaluation were discussed. Regard to the implementation, it was recommended that community leaders be trained during workshops to implement the service program in their communities. Thereafter they should develop facilitators in their respective communities who will guide volunteers in the process of finding their own places of service. The program was facilitated to a number of volunteers. Their experience was related during a focus - group interview. The data collected were analysed and categorized. The following conclusions were made: The program led to the fact that they realized the value of community service. The partakers discovered their true “I” or identity. This knowledge could be used to determine which type of service would lead to the greatest mental health. They also learned the necessary interpersonal skills for effective community service. The thesis therefore puts a community service program in place that will guide volunteers to find their place in service and to live to the full. In that way they will contribute effectively to society and will also benefit in mental health.

Thesis--M.S.W., University of Hong Kong, 1982.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1982.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989.

This descriptive study explores the experience of stress and coping by volunteers working in a cancer support program. Using a model developed by Mary Vachon (1987) who looked at occupational stress of health professionals in critical care areas, methods of content analysis were applied to interviews with six volunteers, three of whom were cancer survivors. Differences in the quality of the stress and in the coping experience were explored. Findings indicate that occupational stress was present for volunteers. The major stressors common to all were issues of relationships with patients and the demands of the role. For volunteers who had had a cancer diagnosis a major stressor distinguishing them was the death of volunteer colleagues. Overall, volunteers utilized a range of coping resources offered by the organization and from within themselves. Key implications include the need to acknowledge not only the strengths of the program and volunteers but the sources of stress, particularly the illness of volunteer colleagues. Maintaining an adequate staff-to-volunteer ratio is essential. Suggestions for volunteer support structures are offered.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that there would be significant differences in selected personality traits between volunteers and nonvolunteers for a crisis intervention center, a 24-hour emergency telephone service. Volunteers for the center were required to complete a 32-hour training program to qualify for service in the center; a portion of the original volunteer population, however, did not complete the program. The final comparison, therefore, was made between the following three groups: (1) a group of volunteers who completed the required training program for a crisis intervention center, (2) a group of volunteers who did not complete the required training program for the center, and (3) a comparable group of non-volunteers.The five personality variables that were selected for measurement were ascendancy, responsibility, emotional stability, sociability, and dogmatism as measured by Gordon Personal Profile and Rokeach Dogmatism Scale. The selection of the traits was prompted by a review of literature which indicated that the traits were associated with the characteristics of effective counselors, with the intent of implementing the inevitable comparison that will be made between talents of volunteers and the requirements for effective service.A total of 179 subjects participated in the study. In order to validate comparisons that were made between volunteers and non-volunteers, the volunteer sample, the total group of persons attending the initial session of the training, was stratified into male:female and student: non-student groups before the non-volunteer population was selected. Established groups were then met by the examiner, tested, and invited to volunteer for the crisis center; data from those declining the invitation to serve were used to form the non-volunteers.Three statistical procedures were used to test the hypotheses: a one way analysis of variance, an analysis of covariance, and Scheffe's method of comparing means following a significant F test. Of the four null hypotheses, all were rejected. Review of the data led to the following conclusions:(1) Volunteers for a crisis center were more ascendant, more responsible, more emotionally stable and less dogmatic than those who chose not to volunteer.(2) Volunteers who completed the training program and volunteers who did not complete were alike on every trait except emotional stability. Completing volunteers were most stable.(3) A large part of the observed variances were accounted for by the female population. Female volunteers differed significantly from female non-volunteers on ascendancy, responsibility, emotional stability and dogmatism. Male volunteers differed from male non-volunteers only on the trait of dogmatism.(4) Volunteers for a crisis center exhibited the characteristics associated with effective counselors to a more significant degree than did the non-volunteers. These characteristics included open-mindedness, responsibility, stability, and flexibility.Implications were drawn concerning the use of volunteers in mental health programs on the basis of self-selection in conjunction with a short, intense training program. Recommendations were made for further research to determine similarities in other volunteer groups for other mental health projects, to investigate further the wide variances observed in the female population, and to more clearly define effectiveness for mental health roles.

Thesis (MEd (Human Resource Studies))--University of South Australia,1997

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 1985. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-115).

Thesis (M.C.M.)--International School of Theology, 1990. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 56-60).