Abstract
Background: Considering Taiwan’s impending shift toward becoming a super aged society (National Development Council, 2020), active involvement in volunteer work is identified as a means to facilitate active aging (Hsu et al., 2019; Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2021), enhance social participation, and sustain the mental and physical well-being of older adults (Hsu et al., 2019; Li & Hsieh, 2020; Wu & Tsai, 2021). However, Existing volunteer training programs lack pretraining assessments to gauge preparedness for the challenges faced by frontline care providers.
Purpose: To identify the demographic characteristics, service skills and needs of older volunteers and investigate the influences of demographic variables on service skills.
Methods: A comparative cross-sectional survey design was adopted, and the data were collected using Older Volunteer Competency Scale (OVCS) (Chen et al., 2024). Simple random sampling was employed to select 73 community care centers in a southern city of Taiwan, resulting in a final sample of 1,000 individuals.
Results: The average age of the participants was 71.79 years, and the sample predominantly comprised women (80.8%), married individuals (64.2%), those with senior high school education or higher (51.9%), and those engaged in volunteer work for more than 5 years (68.0%). The mean score of the service skills was 4.49 ± 2.76. The top five items of the scale ranked in descending order as follows: Designing dynamic activities (5.09 ± 3.29 ), Consultation and referral (4.98 ± 3.20 ), Designing static activities (4.96 ± 3.32 ), Leading dynamic activities (4.86 ± 3.28 ) and Leading static activities (4.72 ± 3.29 ). The participants’ volunteering experiences and educational level significantly influenced needs levels. Participants with the shortest volunteering experiences and lowest educational levels expressed the highest needs.
Conclusions : Older volunteers’ service skills needs are influenced by volunteering experiences and educational level. Community care centers are suggested to investigate before training programs arrangement.
Notes
References:
1. Chen, M, C., Chen, K, M., Lin, L, H., Yang, L, C., Lin, T, Y., & Belcastro, F. (2024). Establishing psychometric properties of the older volunteer competency scale in the community. Geriatric Nursing, 56, 321-327. doi: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.02.030
2. Hsu, H. C., Liang, J., Luh, D. L., Chen, C. F., & Lin, L. J. (2019). Constructing Taiwan’s active aging index and applications for international comparison. Social Indicators Research, 146(3), 727-756. doi: 10.1007/s11205-019-02128-6
3. Li, P. S., & Hsieh, C. J. (2020). A concept analysis of active aging: The subject of empowerment for the elderly. Taiwan Journal of Public Health, 39(4), 386-396. doi:10.6288/TJPH.202008_39(4).109037
4. National Development Council. (2020). 2020 to 2070 Population Projections for the R.O.C. (Taiwan). https://pop-proj.ndc.gov.tw/download.aspx?uid=70&pid=70
5. Ministry of Health and Welfare. (2021a). Aging Society White Paper. https://www.sfaa.gov.tw/SFAA/Pages/List.aspx?nodeid=1372
6. Wu, M. T., & Tsai, C. Y. (2021). Research on the influencing factors of active aging of aged population. Journal of Sport and Recreation Management, 18(2), 26-43. doi: 10.6214/JSRM.202112_18(2).0002
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Cross-Sectional
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Long-term Care, Aged, Older Adults, Volunteers, Volunteerism, Community Care Centers, Taiwan
Recommended Citation
Yang, Li-Ching and Chen, Kuei-Min, "Service Skills and Needs of Older Volunteers in the Community Care Centers" (2025). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 151.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2025/posters_2025/151
Conference Name
36th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Seattle, Washington, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Service Skills and Needs of Older Volunteers in the Community Care Centers
Seattle, Washington, USA
Background: Considering Taiwan’s impending shift toward becoming a super aged society (National Development Council, 2020), active involvement in volunteer work is identified as a means to facilitate active aging (Hsu et al., 2019; Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2021), enhance social participation, and sustain the mental and physical well-being of older adults (Hsu et al., 2019; Li & Hsieh, 2020; Wu & Tsai, 2021). However, Existing volunteer training programs lack pretraining assessments to gauge preparedness for the challenges faced by frontline care providers.
Purpose: To identify the demographic characteristics, service skills and needs of older volunteers and investigate the influences of demographic variables on service skills.
Methods: A comparative cross-sectional survey design was adopted, and the data were collected using Older Volunteer Competency Scale (OVCS) (Chen et al., 2024). Simple random sampling was employed to select 73 community care centers in a southern city of Taiwan, resulting in a final sample of 1,000 individuals.
Results: The average age of the participants was 71.79 years, and the sample predominantly comprised women (80.8%), married individuals (64.2%), those with senior high school education or higher (51.9%), and those engaged in volunteer work for more than 5 years (68.0%). The mean score of the service skills was 4.49 ± 2.76. The top five items of the scale ranked in descending order as follows: Designing dynamic activities (5.09 ± 3.29 ), Consultation and referral (4.98 ± 3.20 ), Designing static activities (4.96 ± 3.32 ), Leading dynamic activities (4.86 ± 3.28 ) and Leading static activities (4.72 ± 3.29 ). The participants’ volunteering experiences and educational level significantly influenced needs levels. Participants with the shortest volunteering experiences and lowest educational levels expressed the highest needs.
Conclusions : Older volunteers’ service skills needs are influenced by volunteering experiences and educational level. Community care centers are suggested to investigate before training programs arrangement.
Description
Older volunteers’ service skills needs are influenced by volunteering experiences and educational level. Community care centers are suggested to investigate before training programs arrangement.