Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

162 Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness
(Kerkman, 2003). One study identified six motives for volunteering: to
express values related to altruistic and humanitarian concern for others,
to acquire new learning experiences and /or use otherwise unused skills,
to strengthen social relations or engage in behaviors favored by important
others, to gain career-related benefits, to reduce negative feelings
about oneself or address personal problems, and to grow and develop psychologically
(Dovidio, et al., 2006). Another study identified three similar
motives for volunteering: the need for achievement, affiliation, and
sense of power (Rouse & Clawson, 1992).
Ellis (2001) found that many people have a strong desire to volunteer,
especially during and following a disaster, because they respond to
a crisis with the need to do something. Ellis states that other studies also
found that volunteers needed to be engaged in constructive and communal
behavior for their own mental health, as an outlet for rage, and to
overcome a sense of powerlessness; their self-protecting actions manifested
as altruistic behavior such as searching for survivors, feeding rescuers,
and providing solace to grieving relatives. People also reported
that they like to volunteer because it gives them satisfaction and personal
fulfillment to help others and know they are making a difference (Adler,
2004).
Another incentive for volunteering is the desire to feel needed and
useful, and having a purpose in life is a key to longevity. A growing body
of social science research has explored the benefits of volunteering on
volunteers with surprising results. The benefits of volunteering go well
beyond just making the participants feel better about themselves; in fact,
it helps them stay healthy and may even prolong their lives (Adler, 2004).
By providing volunteer roles in emergency preparedness, community
leaders can tap into these personal reasons to volunteer—from creating a
means to overcome a sense of powerlessness to creating opportunities for
volunteers to feel better about themselves (Ellis, 2001).
WHO VOLUNTEERS?
The decision to volunteer, like many other social behaviors, is often
strongly influenced by the actions of other people (Dovidio, et al., 2006).
However, extraordinary events of historic proportions can also create conditions
that make volunteering more likely (Dovidio, et al.). There was a
two- to three-fold increase in volunteerism in the weeks following September
11, 2001, compared to the same time period in 2000 (Dovidio,