A Study On The Sustainability Of Residents’ Participation In Community Volunteering

Maintaining the continuity of residents’ participation is the key to community volunteering,which is not only related to the cultivation of voluntary spirit and social organization,but also affects the quality of community volunteering.This paper uses the volunteer service team for the elderly that is the most sustainable volunteer service team as a case study,takes the volunteer process model as the theoretical basis,collects data through participatory observation and semi-structured interview,analyzes the process of residents’ participation in volunteer service for the elderly,discusses how the behavior of residents participating in community volunteering is generated and continued.This paper finds that residents’ participation in community volunteering is a dynamic process,which can be divided into three stages: preparation,participation and outcome.Residents’ continued volunteering behavior arises during the outcome phase and is influenced by the first two phases.In the preparation stage,residents’ motivation,personal advantages and the construction of service platforms constitute the basis for residents to participate in community volunteering,and residents begin to participate in volunteer services to help the elderly,creating conditions for the continuous generation of participation.In the participation stage,factors such as matching service activities with participation motivation,positive interaction in services,service development and organizational incentives have enabled residents to obtain more positive support and feedback,improved the motivation and ability of residents to participate in community volunteering,and increased the possibility of participating in continuous generation.In the outcome stage,residents’ personal abilities are enhanced,community identity is strengthened,and the role of volunteers is internalized.Residents are willing to stay in volunteer organizations for a long time,and gradually develop the habit of continuous participation in community volunteering.The continuity of residents’ participation in community volunteering eventually takes shape.Based on summarizing the experience of the volunteer service team for the elderly,this paper puts forward four suggestions to improve the sustainability of residents’ participation in community volunteering: design community volunteering guided by the satisfaction of residents’ needs.Assess residents’ motivation and ability to participate,and reasonably allocate service tasks.Promote communication among volunteers and enhance team cohesion.Track service progress,timely feedback service effectiveness and evaluation,and provide reference for the development of community volunteering.