Title: Voluntary workers thoughts of their role in a voluntary organisation (Väntjänst). Written in Swedish, 28 pages.Authors: Cecilia Andersson and Elisabet Aronsson Pivac, Department of Health Sciences, Social Care Program ? Elderly and disability.Supervisor: Yvonne JohanssonDate: 2006-05-26The purpose of the research was to visualize the voluntary workers thoughts of their role in the voluntary organization, and to understand why they have chosen to be engaged in voluntary work.To recover the answers to our questions we have undertaken an empirically based study using the qualitative method. The data collection comprised of interviews with six voluntary workers from three different municipalities. We found that the voluntary workers take big pride and joy in their engagement and that they have no intention of ending it..

This study aims to investigate possible correlations between cognitive functions and self perceived psychological wellbeing, possible correlations between cognitive functions and degree of mindfulness and possible correlations between degree of mindfulness and self perceived psychological wellbeing. 18 patients diagnosed with ICD-10 taking part in a transdiagnostical cognitive behavioural group therapy participated in the study. The study measures relevant variables before and after a group therapy. Of the 18 patients participating, only 11 were able to be tested on both occasions due to time limit. The following tests are used: Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Wechsler Adult Inventory Scale-III, Trail Making Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, Colour Word Test, Beck's Anxiety Inventory, Beck's Depression Inventory, Quality of Life Inventory and Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills.

Civil society is facing many challenges in modern society and there is a lot of debate about where it is heading - is volunteer work declining or just taking a new form Whichever hypothesis will prove correct in the future, organizations that are dependent on volunteers will need to adapt to the new circumstances. This study aims to examine what forces drive voluntary work at Rädda Barnen (Save the Children Sweden) and Hungerprojektet (The Hunger Project Sweden). Through interviews with employees and volunteers at the two organizations, this study finds that volunteers at Rädda Barnen are primarily driven by values and understanding, and that the volunteers at Hungerprojektet are primarily driven by career and to some extent by values, enhancement and social factors. Understanding these driving forces allow the organizations to adapt to the new circumstances by matching the volunteers interests with the organizations' needs..

Over the past thirty years the political parties in Sweden have lost five out of six members. In order to retain existing members leadership in these organizations has become increasingly important. The aim of this paper is to identify what group leaders for party groups within the municipal council believe are the driving forces that underlie the councillors' voluntary commitment, identify the group leaders' leadership style and identify whether there exist a relationship between these driving forces and the leadership style. The approach applied is qualitative consisting of twelve interviews with twelve group leaders from six different municipalities in Stockholm county. The theoretical framework of this paper includes the Volunteer Functions Inventory and the Full Range Leadership Theory.

Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka vad som motiverar de som volontärarbetar inom fritid och hälsa samt att se om motivationerna skiljer sig beroende på tid som volontär. En webbenkät med frågor tagna från Volunteer functions inventory (VFI) och Basic need satisfaction at work scale (BNS) skickades ut till 220 volontärarbetare för att få svar på frågorna: Vilka motivationsfaktorer är bäst uppfyllda hos volontärarbetarna och förändras dessa över tid? Resultatet visade enligt VFI att Värderingar, det osjälviska hos människan, Förståelse, viljan att söka nya kunskaper, och Förstärkning, egenutveckling, har högst värden hos volontärerna. Vad gäller BNS så visade resultatet att Kompetens, förståelse för och delaktighet i sin omgivning, var bäst uppfyllt följt av Samhörighet, upplevelsen att tillhöra en viss social miljö. Enligt VFI har tiden som volontärarbetare inget samband med motivationsfaktorerna medan BNS visade att alla faktorer minskade men motivationsfaktorn Samhörighet sjönk mest.

In Sweden the voluntary socialwork is a complement to the public authorities. The voluntary organisations has become more important considered helping people in different situations of need.The aim of this study has been to examine the voluntary organisations meaning for individuals.The aim was reached through interviews by five guests from different organisations. We have also interviewed two employees from the different organisations to find out if there is any differences in their way of work.This study indicates that the organisations means a lot for the individuals. The social network, something to do during the day, a kind treatment but also the milieu are factors that seems important for the individuals. The organisations even creates a feeling of connection and satisfy other kind of needs.

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate the ideas about functions that public libraries have in the local society. We have used the method idea analysis on four municipal library plans, to find out which ideas about library functions that frequented each plan, and what similarities and differences there were between the ideas about functions in each plan. As a theoretic base, we have used a theory about three dynamic spheres in modern society: the state market and civil society, and examined how these three spheres influence and control the library functions. We have extracted six different ideas about library functions: educational, social, economical, entertaining, serving and democratic functions. The most dominating ideas in this study are ideas that the public library should be an educating and formative institution.

In Sweden the voluntary socialwork is a complement to the public authorities. The voluntary organisations has become more important considered helping people in different situations of need. The aim of this study has been to examine the voluntary organisations meaning for individuals. The aim was reached through interviews by five guests from different organisations. We have also interviewed two employees from the different organisations to find out if there is any differences in their way of work. This study indicates that the organisations means a lot for the individuals. The social network, something to do during the day, a kind treatment but also the milieu are factors that seems important for the individuals. The organisations even creates a feeling of connection and satisfy other kind of needs. .

In the beginning of the nineties there was a change in how the voluntary sector was perceived, and the significance of their work became reevaluated and more acknowledged. As a result, this sector gained a new and higher interest. The changes and downsizing in the welfare state with economic crises, due to political cutback, made the politicians look fore new solutions. One solution is to encourage cooperation between the public sector and the voluntary sector in order to handle the different needs of individuals.Uppsala community and the voluntary sector are working closely together within a project called ?God Livsmiljö?.

The two most controversial ends of life decisions are those in which physicians help patients take their lives and when the physician deliberately and directly intervenes to end the patients? life upon his request. These are often referred to as voluntary euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. Voluntary euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have continued to be controversial public issues. This controversy has agitated the minds of great thinkers including ethicians, physicians, psychologists, moralists, philosophers even the patient himself.

This study examines the connection between social capital and involvement within voluntary associations; involvement is defined either as being a member in an association or a member who has some kind of assignment in an association. The study also examines if there is a difference between two social economic groups regarding the attainment and transformation of social capital through being involved in a voluntary association.Social capital is defined as social trust and the willingness of collective action.The result of the research shows there is a slight connection between the involvement in voluntary associations and social capital. It shows that people who are members of a voluntary association often have higher social capital than those who are not members of any voluntary association at all. The study also shows that there is a difference in attainment of social capital between those who have some kind of assignment in a voluntary association and general members.When studying social capital and involvement in voluntary associations it is also of interest to take social class into the analysis, because the study shows that people with a lower education had increased social capital when they were members in an association compared to the members with a higher education..

AbstractMatchmaking on an organisational level? about co-operation between municipal introduction-units and voluntary organisationsEssay in Political Science D, by Rebecka Johansson, spring 2006The aim of this study is to examine co-operation between municipal introduction-units, which work to integrate newly arrived immigrants and refuges, and voluntary organisations in Sweden. The essay is a comparative case study which examines three local authorities and the main questions are;- Do voluntary organisations constitute a functioning co-operation partner to the municipal introduction-units? Are there conditions for future co-operation?The answer to the questions is that there are no, or rarely any, co-operation between voluntary organisations and municipal introduction-units. It is difficult to judge whether there are conditions for future co-operation.

This study was carried out as a commission from Holmen Skog, district ?Egen skog? in Norrköping. During October 2006 several stands were inventoried by aerial photos from helicopter. The stands were those for which the next action proposed was plant inventory or plant check. The photos were interpreted and the number of stems was calculated.

The aim of this study was to reach a better understanding of voluntary work and its possible influence on the work role. Based on a phenomenological approach, five voluntary workers from the leisure field were interviewed. The interpretation of the empirical data was based on the Humanistic psychology and its theories about personality, self-realization, motivation and emotion. The results show that the motive behind the voluntary engagement varied amongst the participants and all of them stated more than one motive. However, social motives, wanting to learn more and develop their skills and also wanting to help others, were the most frequent motives among the participants.

This thesis focuses on the motives and incitements for voluntary work. The main question for this thesis is why people get involved in voluntary work. What are the motives and incitements for voluntary commitment and what do people gain from this kind of commitment? The thesis is based upon qualitative research methods at Frivilligcentralen in Norrköping. The theoretical perspectives are a community commitment, satisfaction of being part of a meaningful context, altruistic and self-interest and an increased pace of social changes.