Natur og Kultur som Folkehelse - NaKuHel

Volunteer Participation in a Norwegian Municipality
Cultural and Health Determinants for Participation
Bente Lorentzen, Britt-Maj Wikström, Pål Jonanger
Introduction:
Members of voluntary associations are engaging
in voluntary activities. It means that they provide
unpaid work. They offer their time to groups and
organisations and do not ask for compensation in
return. Today there is a decreasing interest in contributing
to general organizations.
Instead citizens seem to prefer associations that
offer activities that appeal to their personal needs
and interests.
Aim:
The objectives were threefold; first to build a
profile of the voluntary organisations, second to
determine whether factors of health and well-
being were connected to voluntary work, and finally
reasons not to participate in voluntary work.
Method:
A first step in the present study was to conduct
a focus group interview. The second step was to
make questions for a survey based on the results
of the focus group interview in order to provide an
overall direction for the survey.
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
A questionnaire was sent to six local organisations
in the municipality in Norway that have some involvement
supporting voluntary work. The statistic
procedure logistic regression,
Spearman (rho) were used in order to assess the
impact of voluntarism
Results:
The results point at links between voluntarism and
well-being. The totalities of years you have been
a member of a voluntary association and engaging
in voluntary work shows correlation to greater
well-being. Those who have engaged in voluntarism
more than 4.6 years answered yes on the question
about social network as an important factor
when engaging in voluntary work.
The possibility to be happy or not happy by volunteering
could be regarded, to some part, as connected
to level of salary. The strongest predictor
of being pleased was the parameter having energy
and willing to work
Conclusion:
From a public health perspective it is of importance
of undertaking productive activities by participating
in volunteer work.
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