Çocuk Refahı Alanında Gönüllü Katılımı Etkileyen Faktörlerin İncelenmesi: Bir Karma Yöntem Araştırması

Abstract

Volunteering is a universal phenomenon and a way that people try to do something good for society, and that exists all over the world. People all over the world participate in volunteer activities for a great variety of reasons: to help to eliminate poverty and to improve basic health and education, to provide a safe water supply and adequate sanitation, to tackle environmental issues and climate change, to reduce the risk of disasters and to combat social exclusion and violent conflict. Problems such as the low level of participation of individuals in formal volunteering activities in Turkey and the existence of large gaps in terms of both legal and implementation in the field of volunteering have made it necessary to examine the motivational factors of volunteers in formal volunteering activities in the field of child welfare and to examine the national volunteering system. In this context, the general purpose of the study is to explain the factors affecting participation in voluntary activities in the field of child welfare. In line with this purpose, factors (micro, mezzo and macro) affecting voluntary participation and individual motivations that exist in the background of volunteerism in Turkey have been determined through participants engaged in volunteering and activities in the field of child welfare. In line with the results obtained, a model proposal was created for the development of volunteerism in Turkey. Within the scope of the research, mixed methods research approach was adopted. For the quantitative part of the research, 1046 volunteers participated in non-governmental organizations operating in Ankara and Istanbul, which are within the scope of this study sample. In addition, the qualitative part of the study consisting of two dimensions, in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 volunteers for the first dimension, and in-depth interviews were conducted with 35 experts and decision makers for the second dimension. In the quantitative part of the research, the characteristics of the participants are defined and described. In addition, the "Volunteering Motivation Inventory (VMI)" scale was used to measure the motivations of the participants. For the qualitative part of the study, two different semi-structured interview forms were used. SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 23.0 statistical package programs were used in the analysis of the quantitative research data. MAXQDA 2020 package program was used to create coding and themes at the point of analyzing qualitative data. Regarding the results in the quantitative part of the study, it was determined that approximately 80% of the volunteers are women and between the ages of 18-30, and approximately one third of them are students. In addition, 36.7% of the volunteers felt their physical health better after volunteering, and 78.9% felt their psychological health better after volunteering. The dimensions of ‘recognition, reactivity’ and ‘understanding’ within the motivations for volunteering draw attention compared to other dimensions. Regarding the qualitative research results, different results were presented under five themes. These themes; "the first step to volunteering and the perception of volunteering", "the effects of volunteering", "the development and sustainability of the volunteer system", "stakeholders, responsibilities and roles in volunteering" and as the last theme, "past, present and future in volunteering" were determined respectively. Generally, results have been presented under micro, mezzo and macro structures. Thus, the field of volunteerism was examined in an integrated structure. The consequences of mixed methods show that volunteer decision making is affected through motivations and social environment which be classified as micro, mezzo and macro. In this study, it is necessary to create a new model because of no development field of volunteering adequately in Turkey, lack of legal legislations and institutional coordination about volunteer and field of volunteering. The model will significantly contribute to making voluntary activities more systematic and sustainable.