Virtual volunteering can be defined as a type of civic engagement where the volunteers perform their tasks using the Internet either from their home or other offsite locations. Although a comprehensive body of literature can be found concerning older adults' involvement in traditional face-to-face volunteering, few studies exist on Internet-based volunteering. This study takes the initiative to generate new knowledge on how the Internet can play an active role in facilitating volunteerism among older people. It explores the demographic characteristics, motivation, and types of tasks performed by older adults while volunteering in a virtual environment. Given the emerging support infrastructure to facilitate virtual volunteering among older adults, this study sought to better comprehend the profiles and motivations of older virtual volunteers. In particular, the study wishes to understand if parallels could be drawn between on-site volunteering and online volunteering among older adults. Correspondingly, the study also explores whether participation in virtual volunteering by older adults increased their sense of belonging. A qualitative inquiry is performed to address these issues. This study is an attempt to gather baseline empirical descriptions of these phenomena so that future research has the scope to refine the relevant theories in this field.
Federal agencies responsible for funding protective services to older adults are increasingly concerned with the growing incidence of financial exploitation in rural areas. The Wall Street Journal recently has reported an increasing trend of unemployed adult children migrating from urban centers to smaller rural towns and countrysides to live with their parents since 2008. This current study explores the attitudes of family caregivers regarding management of financial matters for their elderly care recipients. The major findings of the study include that adult children often (1) overestimate their parents' ability to manage their finances; (2) prefer to manage their parents' finances informally, as opposed to using legal options like power of attorney; and (3) tend to think of their parents' assets as "almost theirs." The study concludes with recommendations on the critical need for information to help families make important decisions about helping elderly parents with their finances. This information would not only promote the use of safeguards against abuse, but could potentially provide caregivers with greater confidence and protection.
This exploratory paper presents a case study where a community based mental health organization forging a partnership with a local hospital system to establish a crisis stabilization unit (CSU) to address behavioral health emergency care. The study takes a mixed methods case study approach to address two research questions; (a) did this approach reduce the overall length of stay in the hospital emergency departments? (b) What challenges did the taskforce face in implementing this CSU model? The paper shares recommendation from the findings.
We conducted qualitative content analysis, using the theoretical lens of Edward Said's concept of Orientalism, of nine study abroad flyers to India and Egypt sponsored by social work schools in the United States. We show that the promotional content of these flyers cater to Orientalist biases; we recommend measures to amend it.
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