College student motivations for and perceived impacts of volunteering with a nutrition and cooking education program for children

Abstract

To assess among college students their motivations for and perceived impacts of volunteering with Cooking Matters for Kids as part of No Kid Hungry NC. Seventeen college student volunteers responded to an online survey questionnaire assessing their motivations for volunteering and how they were impacted by their experiences. Motivational functions for volunteering (values, understanding, social, career, protective, enhancement) were assessed using the Volunteer Functions Inventory. The strongest motivational functions for volunteering were values and understanding. Students were also strongly motivated to volunteer related to the areas specifically addressed by the program (i.e., nutrition, public health, working with children). Perceived impacts of volunteering included being more comfortable working with children, improving knowledge/skills, gaining experience related to their future career, and having fun. Volunteering with Cooking Matters for Kids benefited college students. Issues addressed by the program and the desire to gain experience motivated students to volunteer.

Stress load and volunteer motivation of patient volunteers in Fangcang shelter hospitals in Shanghai, China during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey

“…This finding may be due to the fact that patient volunteers could improve their competencies, skills and knowledge through volunteer activities, which is consistent with the findings of Soldavini. 47 Meanwhile, the lowest rated dimension was ‘career’, reflecting that patient volunteers disagreed that volunteer experiences could help their career development. A potential reason for this may be related to the fact that the average FSH stay of patients was short, and short-term volunteer experience did not give patient volunteers a deep feeling.…”