Exploring actor-network theory in a volunteer tourism context: A delicate balance disrupted by COVID-19

Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork and using Actor-Network Theory (ANT), the authors trace the interactions of a primary actor and other agents within the context of the volunteer tourist experience at a children's home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This paper has two key objectives;first to sketch the volunteer tourism reality as it is shaped by the actions of different actors, and second to showcase how this sensitively balanced ecosystem was significantly disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Staying true to the ANT approach and ‘following the actor' (Latour, 1993), the authors demonstrate how the volunteer tourist setting is relationally reproduced through the incessant alignment of different human and non-human actors and their sometimes conflicting interests and actions. By taking this radical approach, we reveal the need to reconsider the narrative that views all children in orphanages in the global South as victims and pawns of the ‘orphan industrial complex' and how the children's home in the study offers much-needed support to children and people that have no safety net. The study shows that these actors sometimes unknowingly become part of the network and serve a good cause while acting in pursuit of their own interests.

Netnography and volunteer tourism: Critical reflections on conducting online research during a global pandemic

COVID-19 curtailed a significant amount of research in the field, forcing social scientists to consider the future of fieldwork. Netnography seems to offer a covid-resistant alternative to traditional fieldwork methods. This paper expands knowledge of the netnographic approach, focusing on a study of spirituality in international volunteer tourists' experiences. It explores the potential of netnography as a research tool within the context of ongoing concerns around the viability and sustainability of physically travelling to collect data. As such, this paper presents a critical, reflective analysis of the main author's experience in conducting netnographic research during the pandemic, presenting the challenges and limitations, as well as the benefits of the method.

Volunteers' perceived preparedness, training, experiences and satisfaction in a mass COVID-19 pandemic vaccine clinic

In this paper, we present formal and informal volunteers' perceived experiences of a mass vaccination clinic for COVID-19 in central Texas. Volunteers at one or more of our team's vaccination events responded to an anonymous survey to share perceptions of their preparedness, training experiences, communication effectiveness and satisfaction, to help us identify opportunities to improve volunteer training and engagement for responses to pandemics. Overall, the volunteers perceived their work to be meaningful, felt prepared and were satisfied with their experiences as volunteers. A dedicated team that communicates well and emphasizes a team approach is key to success, especially in unprecedented situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications for future volunteer training and involvement in disaster responses are discussed.

Citizen Science for Deep Ocean Biodiversity: A Crowdsourcing Tool in Support of Conservation

Scientific knowledge plays an important role in providing ecosystem services. However, knowledege from the vast deep ocean is less understood and poses challenges to scientists defying the engagement of participatory science that has proven valuable in other disciplines where biodiversity observing and monitoring have had more tradition. Cabled ocean observatories and telepresence offer an opportunity for collecting data through citizen science and crowdsourcing in the next decades. Science and decision-making will be benefited with the early involvement of citizens and increasing the knowledge for conservation and restoration actions. The "Morphotype Atlas of the Abyssal Megafauna in the Revillagigedo Archipelago in the Eastern Tropical Pacific” is an educational initiative based on volunteer work for the identification of seafloor habitats and taxonomic diversity. It offers student training using as an example of a deep ocean national park in Mexico and uses materials obtained from the live video recording from remotely operated vehicle (ROV) cameras in a collaborative cruise with the Ocean Exploration Trust. The possibilities to explore the deep ocean biodiversity were unique to numerous students during the COVID-19 restriction. This volunteer work inspires amateurs, generates new knowledge, connects participants, and increases their literacy of the deep ocean, whose study is limited due to its remoteness and costly accessibility. Among the challenges to overcome for crowdsourcing is the complex identification of deep ocean organisms. "Immersive virtual reality, " a tool that facilitates understanding through a virtual spatial presence, is being explored in a collaborative effort with the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) to virtually represent the deep protected areas in Mexico. Comments on the opportunities and challenges that citizen science can bring in the next decade are presented. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

Importance of meaningful engagement: how and why older adults volunteer in uncertain times

PurposeMany older adults engage in volunteer activities, drawing meaning and purpose through such efforts. Social distancing restrictions, put in place during Covid-19 surges to reduce the risk of transmission, disrupted older adult volunteers' lives and volunteer experiences. Social distancing measures provide a unique opportunity to explore what happened when the choices around pausing or stopping volunteering were not entirely within the control of older adults. This paper aims to explore the experiences of older adult volunteers as they navigated uncertainties and made difficult decisions around balancing their safety and their desire to continue volunteering.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted interviews with 26 community-dwelling older adults, age 50+, who had engaged in volunteer activities for at least 1 h a week prior to the start of the pandemic. The interviews were conducted on the phone or via Zoom. The authors used thematic analysis to help us analyze the data and identify patterns from participants' experiences.FindingsDespite the risk presented by Covid-19, most participants volunteered during the pandemic. They continued some or all of their previous activities with safety-related adjustments, with some seeking new or different opportunities. Participants' discussions highlight the challenges of volunteering during the pandemic and the importance of engagement to their resiliency and subjective well-being.Originality/valueThis paper provides original contributions to understanding how and why older adults volunteered during the Covid-19 pandemic. The social distancing measures provide a novel opportunity to enrich our understanding of the meaningfulness and value of volunteerism to older adults' lives and subjective well-being.

Experiences of participants of a volunteer-supported walking intervention to improve physical function of nursing home residents - a mixed methods sub-study of the POWER-project.

BACKGROUND: Regular physical activity improves physical health and mental well-being and reduces the risk of falling in older adults. The randomized controlled "Prevention by lay-assisted Outdoor-Walking in the Elderly at Risk" POWER-study investigates whether volunteer-supported outdoor-walking improves physical function and quality of life in older people living independently or in nursing homes. This sub-study explores the experiences of older participants and volunteers in relation to their physical and psychosocial well-being as well as the challenges faced by both groups. A further aim was to explore volunteers' experience with people living in nursing homes during the first pandemic lockdown (spring 2020). METHODS: The sub-study was designed as mixed-methods approach consisting of 11 individual semi-structured guide-based interviews (nursing home residents), two focus group interviews (volunteers), and a cross-sectional questionnaire survey (volunteers). The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed by content analysis as described by Kuckartz. Topics addressed in the interviews were triangulated by means of a questionnaire. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Participants' evaluation of the intervention was generally positive. Nursing home residents appreciated the social interaction associated with the assisted walking, which motivated them to take part regularly, provided a sense of safety, and caused pleasure on both sides. The impact on physical health status of the nursing home residents of this sub-study varied to a large degree as reported in interviews: in some cases, an improvement in physical performance, a decrease in physical complaints, and an improvement in gait or independence was reported. If not, reference was made to previous or sudden illnesses and the advanced age of the participants. Despite the COVID-19-lockdown and the associated restrictions, about 60% of contacts were still possible and participants planned to continue the assisted walks after the lockdown. CONCLUSION: Volunteers have a positive effect on the quality of life, mobility, and general health of nursing home residents. Even more than the improvement of physical performance, social interaction was seen as helpful. Despite their advanced age, the nursing home residents were curious and open to new contacts. When removing the identified barriers, it might be possible to integrate this program into the long-term everyday life of nursing homes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: DRKS-ID: DRKS00015188, date of registration: 31.08.2018.

Understanding volunteer motivations and concerns in coaching and officiating basketball: implications for sport policy.

Sport participation and volunteering can make important contributions to good health. Sporting organisations need volunteers to deliver their participation opportunities and for many years the sector has faced challenges to volunteer recruitment and retention, especially due to the increased bureaucratic and compliance demands in operating community sports clubs. As sporting organisations pivot to adapt to COVID-safe sport we can learn about their experiences to inform volunteer recruitment and retention policies and practices. This research examined volunteer intentions and motivations in coaching and officiating in basketball and explored factors influencing their decision to return to COVID-safe basketball. Data was collected via an online survey that drew on theoretical frameworks of volunteer motivations (i.e. modified Volunteer Functions Inventory VFI) in sport as well as sport policies related to COVID-safe guidelines for return to sport. Data was collected in Victoria Australia during July 2020 before basketball had the chance to return from the first Australian-wide COVID-19 lockdown. Volunteers had positive intentions to return to basketball following COVID-19 restrictions because it was fun, to help others, or because friends/family were involved. Volunteers were most concerned that others will not comply with COVID-safe policies particularly around isolating when feeling unwell (95%), but also reported concerns about the inconveniences of some COVID-safe policies introduced to return to organised sport (e.g. social distancing, density limits, and enforcing rule changes). Understanding these volunteer intentions, motivations and factors influencing the decision to return to COVID-safe basketball can help inform recruitment and retention strategies to support volunteers in sport. Practical implications for sport policy and practice are discussed.

The rising environmentalists: Fostering environmental goal attainment through volunteer tourism

This study attends to Generation Zers' volunteer tourism. It draws on self-determination and goal-setting theories to synthesize a model delineating how the interplay of internal and external environmental motivational factors reshapes green volunteering involvement amid the pandemic, leading to environmental goal attainment and persistent endeavors. The inquiry adopted an online survey-based design with data collected from 340 rising environmentalists. Results first suggest that environmental self-efficacy and social climate are positively related to green volunteering involvement, with environmental self-efficacy exhibiting a more profound effect. These relationships are also moderated by eudaimonic environmental pursuits in that the relationships remain stronger when volunteers pursue eudaimonia to a high degree. Furthermore, involvement is evident in fostering environmental goal attainment, leading to pro-environmental behaviors and advocacy. With the above findings taken together, this investigation sheds light on environmental goal attainment through volunteer tourism amid the COVID-19 turbulence. It brings to light a motivation–goal attainment–behavior model that deserves investigating.

Role identity of staff in Chinese volunteer tourism sending organisations

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, the volunteer tourism sector had experienced sustained growth around the world, including in China where a dynamic volunteer tourism sector has emerged over the last decade. When analysing this sector through a future-focused, post-pandemic lens, it is important to pay attention to the resilience building of volunteer tourism staff to better respond to the recovery and restart stage of volunteer tourism. This reflects the pivotal role that sending organisations and their staff play in maximising good practice during volunteer tourists' selection, pre-departure preparation, orientation, and post-trip evaluation. Drawing on role identity theory, this paper explores how volunteer tourism staff in Chinese sending organisations perceive their role identities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 current and former Chinese volunteer tourist staff. The transcribed interviews were analysed through thematic template analysis. Results show that there are both conventional and idiosyncratic dimensions of Chinese volunteer tourism staff's role identity, and the 17 identified roles were grouped into four overarching roles, professional, supporter, influencer, and self-actualiser. Comprehending the role identity of volunteer tourism staff is crucial for shaping a robust career belief, as well as enhancing staff recruitment, training, and retention. This, in turn, can boost staff resilience in the volunteer tourism sector post-pandemic.

Translating Against COVID-19 in the Chinese Context: A Multi-agent, Multimedia and Multilingual Endeavor

In the COVID-19 crisis, multilingual and multimodal translation services, provided by both professional translators and volunteer communities, have greatly facilitated the communication between different parties. This chapter gives an overview of how diverse agents have engaged in this large-scale translation endeavor and draws attention to the importance of translation planning in crisis contexts. It not only discusses the operations of volunteer translators, highlighting their contribution in providing language assistance in crisis situations, but also analyzes the significant role played by government-sponsored institutions in mobilizing language professionals and organizing translation projects, such as Language Service Group Against COVID-19 and China International Publishing Group. Moreover, this chapter focuses on the relevance of translation to waixuan (often translated as international publicity) in this crisis situation and investigates how translation is strategically adopted by the government as a medium of communicating the Chinese experience of fighting COVID-19. After analyzing all these disparate efforts, it argues for the significance of translation in overcoming language barriers in crisis contexts and concludes with suggestions on how to enhance translation planning for health emergencies. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.

Volunteer community service providers during the COVID‐19 crisis response in China: What are their personal needs and how to respond?

The needs of volunteer community service providers (VCSPs), who are the main responders to community crises, have received significantly less attention for the contributions they have been making during the COVID‐19 crisis. A mixed‐method research framework was used in this study, which involved semi‐structured interviews with 13 NGOs and questionnaire responses from 430 VCSPs in Hubei, China to assess the VCSPs' personal needs based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It was found that the VCSPs had safety, love, belonging, self‐esteem, and self‐actualization personal needs, all of which were closely related to family, partners, organizations, society and the government. The discussions revealed that the more experienced VCSPs needed special attention and family support was extremely significant for VCSPs in crisis. Several recommendations to meet VCSPs' personal needs are proposed that could have valuable reference value for emergency managers when organizing and supporting VCSPs in contingencies. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Contingencies & Crisis Management is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

French non-profit organizations at the end of a lockdown: the relevance of differentiated policies

Purpose: French non-profit organizations (NPOs) have undergone numerous health restrictions and lockdown measures in addition to the health issues raised by the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this article is then to question the relevance of support policies that have been homogeneous and poorly adapted to the sectors or the number of employees. Design/methodology/approach: This study makes a diagnosis of French NPOs after the first lockdown. A survey conducted among NPO leaders obtained 12,248 answers. Findings: Disparities according to the sector of activity, the presence or not of employees and the annual budget are to be noted. Differentiated policies and actions therefore seem indispensable. Originality/value: This article discusses the ability of French NPOs to deal with the health crisis with the help of their partners and stakeholders. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

COVID-19 Pandemic, Physical Distancing Policies, and the Non-Profit Sector Volunteer Force

Although COVID-19-related physical distancing has had large economic consequences, the impact on volunteerism is unclear. Using volunteer position postings data from Canada's largest volunteer center (Volunteer Toronto) from February 3, 2020, to January 4, 2021, we evaluated the impact of different levels of physical distancing on average views, total views, and total number of posts. There was about a 50% decrease in the total number of posts that was sustained throughout the pandemic. Although a more restrictive physical distancing policy was generally associated with fewer views, there was an initial increase in views during the first lockdown where total views were elevated for the first 4 months of the pandemic. This was driven by interest in COVID-19-related and remote work postings. This highlights the community of volunteers may be quite flexible in terms of adapting to new ways of volunteering, but substantial challenges remain for the continued operations of many non-profit organizations. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Vaccine Strategy During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Community Engaged Research Supporting a Policy Oriented Towards Nonprofit Organizations and Volunteers

In the face of the Covid-19 crisis, vaccination was the medical tool and nonprofit organizations have tried to reduce its social impact. Nevertheless, they are mostly constituted of elderly volunteers, who chose to suspend their commitment. In France, within community-engaged research, a proposition from practitioners was to adapt the health strategy by including volunteers in the vaccine strategy. A survey dedicated to these topics and testing the proposition in January-February 2021 obtained 1,862 responses from volunteers. It confirms that the pandemic has disrupted volunteering and that the vaccination of volunteers would allow NPOs to reduce the lack of human resources.

Religious Orientation and Motivations in a Sample of Italian Catholic Volunteers

The aim of the research was to study motivations to volunteer, and their relationship with religious orientation in a sample of volunteers working in a Catholic organization. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 190 volunteers working in a Catholic organization based in a large city in northern Italy and devoted to ending poverty and situations of marginalization through the promotion of social justice. Of these, 160 (90 females, 70 males) agreed to participate. The main result was that all motivations, except Career, increased with the intrinsic religious orientation. The Social and Career functions increased with the extrinsic-social religious orientation. The Protective and Enhancement functions increased with all religious orientations. The result concerning gender differences showed that the creation of a social network through volunteering and the opportunities to create and maintain a positive relationship with others are more important to women than men. Managers could benefit from these findings to improve the recruitment and retaining of volunteers and to think strategically about the mission and the cultural/religious belief of the organization. The impact of two and a half years of Covid-19 policies, however, remains unclear. © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2023

SARS-CoV-2 antibody determination in a vaccinated and recovered cohort in Austria

Since December 2019 the world has been dealing with a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. The first SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was made available in Europe at the end of 2020. 202 volunteers from the vicinity of the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt took part in this study;their IgG levels recognizing the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 were determined. The aim was to evaluate the SARS-CoV-2 titer levels of vaccinated, recovered and vaccinated plus recovered persons. We could show that there is a significant difference in the antibody levels of vaccinated, vaccinated plus recovered and only recovered probands. Additionally, the highest antibody levels were found in triple vaccinated persons. Furthermore, the Moderna vaccine seems to have a higher immune response.Copyright © 2022

COVID-19 and its impact on volunteering: Moving towards virtual volunteering

These unprecedented times due to the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the everyday lives of individuals. A particular activity impacted by this pandemic is leisure. Within leisure, an important activity to enhance social outcomes (e.g., civic participation) and the survival of organizations and events is volunteering. However, and given social distancing measures and the combination of postponements or cancelations of organizational or event operations, the traditional form of in-person volunteering is threatened. The purpose of this essay is to discuss opportunities and challenges for organizations and events to apply virtual volunteering as a strategy during the pandemic and beyond. Both opportunities (i.e., creating accessibility) and challenges (i.e., management process) are discussed according to pertinent literature. From this, an understanding of virtual volunteering's value to create leisure opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond is presented to advance its implementation in organization and events by leisure practitioners. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The self-society duality in volunteer tourism: An analytical framework for the (post-)pandemic era

Volunteer tourism straddles the intersection of two seemingly conflicting nonwork activities: traveling, with largely self-serving aspects, and volunteering, with society-serving aspects. This self–society duality is a defining feature of the practice, which carries moral ambiguities and may undermine the volunteer's moral self-worth. However, little is known about how volunteers account for this duality and maintain their moral self-worth. Exploring volunteers' perceptions of this duality is more important than ever in "the new present” under COVID-19, where a personal quest for pleasure runs counter to public health and the common good, and the self–society duality in volunteer tourism may be intensified. Drawing on pragmatic sociology and in-depth interviews with volunteer tourists, this article shows that volunteer tourists comprise narratives that intertwine the self-serving aspects of volunteering and multiple beliefs about the common good. Through these narratives, interviewees move between self-serving and society-serving aspects, overcome moral ambiguity, and deem themselves as living up to moral standards. The different elements that comprise the interviewees' narratives reveal a narrative form about moral good particular to tourism. Highlighting these elements, this article proposes an analytical framework through which volunteer tourists' moral views and the relation between self-serving and society-serving in volunteer tourism can be explored. © 2023 The Authors

Single-Dose Bioequivalence Study of Rivaroxaban-Containing Medicinal Products in Healthy Volunteers.

Therapeutically, new oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are considered to be non-inferior or superior to vitamin K antagonists (warfarin). NOACs are included in current guidelines for the treatment of various cardiovascular diseases. Rivaroxaban medicinal products have been shown to effectively fight thrombotic complications of the new coronavirus infection, COVID-19. The wide clinical use of rivaroxaban products motivates the development of generics. The aim of the study was to compare the pharmacokinetics and safety of rivaroxaban medicinal products in a single-dose bioequivalence study in healthy volunteers under fasting conditions. Material(s) and Method(s): the bioequivalence study compared single-dose oral administration of Rivaroxaban, 10 mg film-coated tablets (NovaMedica Innotech LLC, Russia), and the reference product Xarelto, 10 mg film-coated tablets (Bayer AG, Germany), in healthy volunteers under fasting conditions. The open, randomised, crossover trial included 46 healthy volunteers. Each of the medicinal products (the test product and the reference product) was administered once;blood samples were collected during the 48 h after the administration. The washout between the study periods lasted 7 days. Rivaroxaban was quantified in plasma samples of the volunteers by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Result(s): no adverse events or serious adverse events were reported for the test and reference products during the study. The following pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained for Rivaroxaban and Xarelto, respectively: Cmax of 134.6 +/- 58.0 ng/mL and 139.9 +/- 49.3 ng/mL, AUC0-48 of 949.7 +/- 354.5 ngxh/mL and 967.6 +/- 319.9 ngxh/mL, AUC0- of 986.9 +/- 379.7 ngxh/mL and 1003.6 +/- 320.4 ngxh/mL, T1/2 of 8.2 +/- 3.2 h and 7.8 +/- 3.3 h. The 90% confidence intervals for the ratios of Cmax, AUC0-48, and AUC0- geometric means were 88.04-108.67%, 89.42-104.92% and 89.44-104.81%, respectively. Conclusion(s): the test product Rivaroxaban and the reference product Xarelto were found to have similar rivaroxaban pharmacokinetics and safety profiles. The study demonstrated bioequivalence of the medicinal products.Copyright © 2022 Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproduction. All rights reserved.

Social models in leg care: understanding Lindsay Leg Club volunteering

Background: This qualitative exploratory research was the first study to explore Leg Club volunteering through focusing specifically on volunteers' narratives. Aim(s): The aim was to understand volunteers' motivations and experiences and to outline the crucial steps for maintaining volunteers' positive trajectory towards providing social support. Method(s): A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with volunteers from UK Leg Clubs was undertaken. Interview transcripts were analysed using a constructivist reflexive thematic analysis. Result(s): I recruited 16 volunteers from three UK Leg Clubs. The study explained the motivations for volunteering (started as members or companions;retired individuals with a strong sense of purpose;emotional, social and mental health reasons), experiences of volunteering (satisfaction from helping;meaningful social connections;personal growth) and volunteers' objectives (desire to recruit more volunteers;concerns about long-term capacity to return to pre-pandemic activities). Conclusion(s): The study outlines the conditions necessary for Leg Club volunteers' continued success in the social dimension of leg care. Declaration of Interest: Dr Anna Galazka is a volunteer project consultant for the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation. The research was funded by Cardiff Business School Research and Scholarship Seedcorn Funding Scheme.Copyright © 2023, OmniaMed Communications Ltd. All rights reserved.