Rewarding altruism: Addressing the issue of payments for volunteers in public health initiatives

South, Jane; Purcell, Martin E.; Branney, Peter; Gamsu, Mark; White, Judy

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.11.058

Cited by 21 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…through income-bringing activities from other members of the household. This is important to take into account when individuals from low-income communities are asked to contribute their time, knowledge and skills freely to help address health inequalities ( South et al. 2014 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuing the work of unpaid community health workers and exploring the incentives to volunteering in rural Africa

Kasteng

Settumba

Källander

et al. 2015

Health Policy Plan.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Community health worker (CHW) programmes are currently being scaled-up in sub-Saharan Africa to improve access to healthcare. CHWs are often volunteers; from an economic perspective, this raises considerations whether reliance on an unpaid workforce is sustainable and how to appropriately cost and value the work of CHWs. Both these questions can be informed by an understanding of CHWs’ workload, their opportunity costs of time and the perceived benefits of being a CHW. However, to date few studies have fully explored the methodological challenges in valuing CHW time. We examined the costs and benefits of volunteering in a sample of 45 CHWs providing integrated community case management of common childhood illnesses in rural Uganda in February 2012 using different methods. We assessed the value of CHW time using the minimum public sector salary rate and a CHW-elicited replacement wage, as well as the opportunity cost of time based on CHW-estimated annual income and alternative work opportunities, respectively. Reported monthly CHW workload, a median of 19.3 h (range 2.5–57), was valued at USD 6.9 (range 0.9–20.4) per month from the perspective of the healthcare system (applicable replacement wage) and at a median of USD 4.1 (range 0.4–169) from the perspective of the CHWs (individual opportunity cost of time). In a discrete choice experiment on preferred work characteristics, remuneration and community appreciation dominated. We find that volunteering CHWs value the opportunity to make a social contribution, but the decision to volunteer is also influenced by anticipated future rewards. Care must be taken by those costing and designing CHW programmes to acknowledge the opportunity cost of CHWs at the margin and over the long term. Failure to properly consider these issues may lead to cost estimations below the amount necessary to scale up and sustain programmes.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuing the work of unpaid community health workers and exploring the incentives to volunteering in rural Africa

Kasteng

Settumba

Källander

et al. 2015

Health Policy Plan.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…International 4 research highlights the benefits of volunteering for individuals. For example in England volunteering has been found to enrich participants' lives and improve their employability (South, Purcell, Branney, Gamsu, & White, 2014). An international study of 29 European countries found that volunteers experienced significant mental health benefits (Kamerāde & Bennett, 2017), a finding echoed in the USA (Yeung, Zhang, & Kim, 2018), and in the UK, it was found to enhance subjective well-being (Binder & Freytag, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A qualitative study exploring the experience and motivations of UK Samaritan volunteers: “Why do we do it?”

Smith

Callaghan

Fellin

2018

British Journal of Guidance & Counselling

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A qualitative study exploring the experience and motivations of Samaritan volunteers: "Why do we do it?" Telephone helplines offer a valued service for those in distress. However, little research has explored the experience of helpline volunteers. Through semistructured interviews, in this article we explore the volunteering experiences of nine long-term UK Samaritan volunteers. Interviews were analysed using Interpretive Interactionism. The analysis highlighted that this volunteering impacted participants' experience of their sense of self. The decision to volunteer was framed as part of a search for personal meaning, tied to experiences of loss and reparation. They reflected positively on their volunteer identity, but highlighted tensions between a sense of vocation and the experience of care burden. The Samaritan Community also offered a sense of belonging and social support. They experienced involvement as personally meaningful, enabling the construction of a positive self-identity.

show abstract

“…However, these distinctions are not clear-cut or consistent across contexts. For example, in some settings, peers receive financial remuneration (Greenspan, 2013; South et al, 2014), and this topic remains one which is hotly debated (Lehman and Sanders, 2007; Maes, 2012). Notwithstanding these debates, a `one-size fits-all' approach may be inappropriate for such diverse contexts (Maes et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Someone like us”: Delivering maternal mental health through peers in two South Asian contexts

Singla

Lazarus

Atif

et al. 2014

Journal of Affective Disorders

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND Peer-led psychosocial interventions are one solution to address the great paucity of skilled mental health human resources in South Asia. The aim of this study was to explore peer-delivered care for maternal depression in two diverse contexts in South Asia. METHODS The study was carried out in the urban setting of Goa, India and a rural setting in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. In total, 61 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and 3 focus group discussions (FGDs), and 38 IDIs and 10 FGDs, were conducted with multiple stakeholders in urban Goa and rural Rawalpindi respectively. We used the framework approach to analyze data. RESULTS Peers, from the same community were the most preferred delivery agents of a community-based psychosocial intervention in both sites. There were contextual similarities and differences between the two sites. Preferred characteristics among peers included local, middle-aged, educated mothers with similar experiences, good communication skills and a good character. Key differences between the two contexts included a greater emphasis on the peer's family social standing in rural Rawalpindi and financial incentives as motivators for individual peers in urban Goa. LIMITATIONS Generalizability of our findings is limited to two specific contexts in a vast and diverse region. DISCUSSION Our study demonstrates that peers have the potential to deliver maternal psychosocial interventions in low-income settings. There are contextual differences in the preferred characteristics and motivators between the sites, and these should be carefully considered in program implementation.

show abstract

Rewarding altruism: Addressing the issue of payments for volunteers in public health initiatives

Cited by 21 publications

References 28 publications

Valuing the work of unpaid community health workers and exploring the incentives to volunteering in rural Africa

Valuing the work of unpaid community health workers and exploring the incentives to volunteering in rural Africa

A qualitative study exploring the experience and motivations of UK Samaritan volunteers: “Why do we do it?”

“Someone like us”: Delivering maternal mental health through peers in two South Asian contexts

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About