Volunteering behaviors and motivation on volunteering of older adults in Amphoe Mueang Sakon Nakhon

Abstract

This survey research purposed to explore the volunteering engagement and motivations on volunteering in older adults in Amphoe Mueang Sakon Nakhon. Older adults, who were currently living and were in the list of Office of Mueang District Public Health in 2019, were recruited to be the samples. 393 older adults were selected by using multi-stage random sampling. Data collection was done by questionnaire. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, median, minimum and maximum.

The findings revealed that most of the samples were female (59.0%), age 60-69 years old (63.4%), married (68.2%) and most of them were farmers (64.9%). 86.8% of the samples had actively participated volunteering activities within a year. The median of duration for volunteering was 2 hours per week (min =1, and max = 8 hours per week). Intrinsic motivations for volunteering including self-esteem and empathy were at high level. Meanwhile, extrinsic motivations including perceived benefits and social connectedness were at moderate level.

            Either intrinsic and extrinsic motivations can be applied to promote volunteering behaviors in older adults, especially those who had never engaged in volunteering activity.