Volunteer Motives Determining Task Preference in Health Service Delivery

and Evidence from available data on the use of community health volunteers from Gambia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Madagascar and Ghana suggests that these workers enhance the performance of community engagement initiatives and that they are cost effective [2] CHVs with minimal additional can deliver treatment for important diseases, such as malaria, HIV, TB and even isolate and care for COVID 19 cases that are asymptomatic or exhibit mild illness. A variety of trials have shown substantial reductions in child mortality through case management by CHVs, guided by case guide [3]. Abstract Health experts globally are currently concerned with health systems strengthening through community engagement. Community Health Volunteers is a core element of community engagement although confronted by the problem of high attrition rates and hence high cost of training to sustain community level service delivery through volunteers. This paper focuses on the identification of volunteers likely to be retained, at the time of selection by a theory based assessment framework to guide investment in volunteer training and support. Methodology The study was undertaken in three stages starting with literature review to identify theories to underpin the development of a volunteer assessment framework, and to inform the testing of the validity and reliability of the framework in determining task preference. A cross sectional survey was carried out to investigate the relationship between volunteer motives and task preference by comparing motives and task preference among volunteers with non-volunteers in Western Kenya. We obtained the eight motives we examined from literature, and tasks from a list of common health activities undertaken by volunteers in Kenya. We rated the task preference of 1062 respondents for each of the tasks on a 1-5 Likert scale. We compared task preference ratings by motives and volunteer status. Findings Volunteer motive constructs were identified from literature guided by theories underpinning volunteerism. Theories identified were Social exchange theory, Functional theory and Role identity theory. Eight motives constructs were identified which were grounded on these theories. Altruistic motive was strongly associated with most tasks investigated. Non-volunteers showed greater association with materialistic tasks. Routine, long duration health tasks such as mother and child healthcare and curative care were significantly associated more with altruistic than with material gain motives. Short-term tasks such as helping in disease outbreaks, and participation in immunization campaigns were associated with both altruistic and material gain motives. The self-seeking motives tended to be associated only with short-term tasks. Conclusion: The resultant volunteer assessment framework consists of two core constructs, altruistic value and material gain. They are effective in identifying the motives of those likely to volunteer long term and short term. Altruistic and material gains were constructs in which the perceptions of volunteers and non-volunteers differed most significantly. The study demonstrated that it is possible to classify tasks according to the motives they satisfy identify and to select volunteers that are likely to serve long term. Assessing the motivational needs of volunteers can assist the management in providing the most effective placement of volunteers into activities that meet their needs and thus maximize their effectiveness.