THE VIEWS OF SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS ON VOLUNTEERING: THE ANKARA UNIVERSITY SAMPLE

Year 2017, Volume: 7 , 103 - 114, 04.08.2017

Melahat Demirbilek , Ayse Sezen Serpen Ayse Nur Turgut Eyup Yayli Behcet Yesilfidan

Abstract

The objective of this work is to reveal the views of the
social work students on volunteering. The research has been conducted with
the participation of 223 Ankara University Faculty of Health Sciences
Department of Social Work students. Through complete inventory, the data were
gathered from volunteering students; and analyzed with frequency distribution
(f) and chi-square (X²) techniques. The female student count is 74%
of the participants, whereas 26% are male. Additionally, 23.8% of the students
are freshman, 30% are sophomore, 22.9% are junior and 23.3% are senior
students. The students’ perception on volunteering follows mostly as sharing
quid pro quo, providing all kind of needs, emotional support and working at an
enterprise free of charge. While 33.6% of the students have been involved in
certain volunteering activities during the past year, the percentage of
students who have registered to one or more 
non-governmental organizations (NGO) are more than the half. Moreover,
the fields where the students mostly attend to volunteering works are children
welfare, disability, youth and poverty. The reasons why the participants attend
to volunteering activities are significantly love for people, the wish to
accomplish something for the society and gaining information and experience.
The social work education has a positive affect onmost of the students
regarding volunteering, due to course contents (field study, NGOs, poverty and
social work, sociak work with disabled) and field studies. The participation of
female students during the past year is higher than the male students. Social work
education influences the thoughts of students on volunteering in a positive
direction. Adding a different course on volunteering to the schedule, more
active student societies and academicians and more effective coordination with
NGOs may have more improving results on the thoughts and attitiudes of students
regarding volunteering.

Keywords

Social work, social work education, social work students, volunteering

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