Volunteer Spirit Behaviors in Nursing Care for Children and the Selected Influencing Factors of Volunteer Spirit Behaviors of the Third and Fourth Year Nursing Students, Prince of Songkla University

Abstract

This predictive research aimed to study the level of volunteer spirit behaviors in nursing care for
children and the selected influencing factors of volunteer spirit behaviors in nursing care for children of the
third and fourth year nursing students, Faculty of Nursing, Hatyai campus, Prince of Songkla University.
Simple random sampling was used to selected 180 students. The data were collected using self-completed
questionnaires consisted of 1) demographic data, 2) attitudes towards volunteer spirit, 3) self-ability
perception, 4) motivation to do volunteer activities, 5) social support, 6) mass media factor, and 7) volunteer
spirit behaviors in caring for children. The questionnaires were tested for face validity and for the reliability
of questionnaires 2-7, yielding Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of .73, .77, .78, .73, .81 and .83, respectively.
The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and simple linear regression.
The results revealed that the mean score of the volunteer spirit behaviors in nursing care for children
of nursing students was at a high level (M= 2.55, SD= 0.27). Similarly, the mean scores of the helping other
(M= 2.54, SD= 0.29) and sacrifice for society (M= 2.49, SD= 0.37) dimensions were at a high level. The
median of development commitment was 2.60 (QD= 0.20). The mean scores of the expected five selected
predictors varied from 3.66 to 4.43. The highest mean score was attitudes towards volunteer spirit whereas
the lowest was that of mass media factor. Simple linear regression analysis showed that 2.8 percent of the
variance of volunteer spirit behaviors was explained by motivation to do volunteer activities with regression
coefficient equals to .168. Thus, to enhance volunteer spirit behaviors of nursing students who took both
theory and practicum in pediatric nursing courses, nursing instructors should promote their motivation to do
volunteer activities.