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Published in: BMC Health Services Research 1/2024

Open Access 01-12-2024 | Research

The experiences and needs of older adults receiving voluntary services in Chinese nursing home organizations: a qualitative study

Authors: Lin Li, Qin Shen, Junxian Wu

Published in: BMC Health Services Research | Issue 1/2024

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Abstract

Background

Older adults living in nursing home organizations are eager to get voluntary help, however, their past experiences with voluntary services are not satisfactory enough. To better carry out voluntary services and improve the effectiveness of services, it is necessary to have a deeper understanding of the experiences and needs of older adults for voluntary services.

Methods

The purposive sampling method was used to select 14 older adults from two nursing home organizations in Hangzhou and conduct semi-structured interviews, Collaizzi’s seven-step method was used to analyze the data.

Results

Older adults in nursing home organizations have both beneficial experiences and unpleasant service experiences in the process of receiving voluntary services; Beneficial experiences include solving problems meeting needs and feeling warmth and care, while unpleasant service experiences include the formality that makes it difficult to benefit truly, lack of organization, regularity, sustainability, and the mismatch between service provision and actual demands. The needs for voluntary services mainly focuses on emotional comfort, Cultural and recreational, and knowledge acquisition.

Conclusion

Older adults in nursing home organizations have varied voluntary experiences, and their voluntary service needs are diversified. Voluntary service needs of older adults should be accurately assessed, and voluntary service activities should be focused upon.
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Metadata
Title
The experiences and needs of older adults receiving voluntary services in Chinese nursing home organizations: a qualitative study
Authors
Lin Li
Qin Shen
Junxian Wu
Publication date
01-12-2024
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Health Services Research / Issue 1/2024
Electronic ISSN: 1472-6963
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11045-5

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