Poster Presentation
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
9:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM
This presentation is part of : Poster Presentations I
Taiwanese Volunteers' Experiences of Participating in Community Health Services
Lin Shu-Man, MSN, Pei-Lin Hsieh, MSc, PhD, Chen-Hung Chiang, BA, and Hsiao-Jung Chen, BA. School of Nursing, Chang Gung Institute of Technology, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan
Learning Objective #1: identify volunteers’ significant contribution in community health services
Learning Objective #2: understand volunteers’ motivation and experiences of participating in community health services
Community health volunteers occupy an important role and contribute significantly to health promotion in the general community in Taiwan. The purpose of this study was: to explore volunteers’ motivation and experiences of participating in community health services; to understand the participants’ lifestyle changes, if any, and to identify whether participation in health services influenced the volunteers’ and their family members’ lifestyle changes. Forty-eight volunteers were recruited from the community. Data were collected from four focus groups consisting of 12 volunteers in each group. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings were encouraging. Six major themes emerged: gaining knowledge and skills; benefits for people; awareness of self health; increasing self-confidence; changing healthier behavior; and influencing family member’s health. It is recommended that volunteers’ participation in community health service is beneficial. The benefits are not restricted to the general community. Participation is also of value to the volunteers as they improve their health-promoting knowledge, skills and attitude.

 

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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)