'n Bemagtigingsprogram vir personeel en afgetrede vrywilligers van dienssentrums vir bejaardes

Abstract

The general objective of the study is to identify specific needs among personnel of Service Centers for the Aged as well as retired volunteers in order to compile an effective empowerment program for both groups of people. The study will also determine the most effective attributes of Service Centre personnel. The study also aims at developing, presenting and evaluating an empowerment program for both personnel and retired volunteers in order to use retired volunteers more effectively to the advantage of both the organization and the older person. The dissertation consists of five sections: SECTION A: This section consists of the problem statement, research questions, research objective, the general theoretical assumption, theoretical approach, social group work, the period during which the research was done, research methodology, restrictions of the research, definitions of key terms and the selection and structure of the dissertation. In order to reach the general research objective the research focused on the following specific objectives: Objective 1 To identify specific needs among personnel of Service Centers for the Aged in order to determine if they make use of retired volunteers’ services and what restrictions they experience with regard to the employment of volunteers. Objective 2 To identify specific needs among retired volunteers involved with Service Centers for the Aged in order to determine what expectations they have of the centre and its personnel. Objective 3 To determine the profile of personnel who work with retired volunteers. Objective 4 To develop and implement an empowerment program for the personnel of Service Centers for the Aged in order to supply personnel with more knowledge with regard to retired volunteers and equip them with the necessary skills so that they can work more effectively with the volunteers. Objective 5 To develop and implement an empowerment program for retired volunteers of Service Centers for the Aged in order to help them fully integrate with the service centre so that they can be an effective part thereof. Objective 6 To evaluate the empowerment programs after they have been presented in order to determine if the developed empowerment programs for personnel and retired volunteers have caused positive growth and improvement so that the programs can be presented to all Service Centers for the Aged. SECTION B: Section B consists of the six articles that contain the reports regarding the research results. Article 1 focus on how the personnel of service centers employ retired volunteers. Article 2 discusses retired volunteers’ expectations of the service centre and its personnel. Article 3 contains the profile of personnel working with retired volunteers. Article 4 consists of the contents of the empowerment program for personnel that work with retired volunteers. Article 5 is the contents of an empowerment program for retired volunteers. Article 6 focuses on the evaluation of the empowerment programs for personnel as well as retired volunteers involved with a Service Centre for the Aged. SECTION C: This section contains the summary of the most important findings and conclusions with regard to the research in general. It also contains recommendations and make mention of the contribution made to the specific field of study. SECTION D: This section consists of the addendums to the research report, for example the different instruments of measurement and the questionnaires. SECTION E: This section concludes the dissertation with a summarized bibliography.