Evaluation of a Structured Volunteering Programme as an Intervention for Enhancing Resilience Level of Parents of People with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Background: Stresses have consistently been found to be higher in parents of people with learning disabilities (LD). However, some parents are able to be more resilient and better adapted in the face of these challenges. It is known that volunteering experience is able to increase one’s resilient protector factors. This study was an initial attempt to evaluate how a structured volunteering programme enhances the resilience level of parents of people with LD. The programme lasted for 6 months and the parent volunteers paid home visits regularly to elderly who were living alone and were invited to attend the debriefing sessions after every visit. Objectives: The researchers examined the effectiveness of the structured volunteering programme in enhancing the resilience level of parents of people with LD, and to identify the specific resilience domains that are correlating with the programme. Methods: A pretest-posttest design was adopted, with the intervention of a 6-month structured volunteering programme. The researchers developed a 24-item scale which extracted from the Resilience Scale – Chinese Version (Chen, 2007; the original scale was developed by Friborg et al. in 2006) and the Purpose in Life Test – Chinese Version (Song, 1992; the original test was developed by Crumbaugh & Maholic in 1964). The scale achieved good reliability (α = 0.935). Data on 36 participants’ measures of 4 resilience domains, namely, self-competence, social skills, social resources, and meaning of life, were analysed. Results: Statistically significant positive changes in the resilience domains of social resources (p = 0.05) and meaning of life (p = 0.04) were found, the domain of social skills also showed positive change. Conclusion: The results suggest the effectiveness of the structured volunteering programme for parents of LD in resilience enhancement. The programme design would be discussed.