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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1432181
This article is part of the Research Topic Community Series In Mental-Health-Related Stigma and Discrimination: Prevention, Role, and Management Strategies, Volume III View all 5 articles

Volunteering across contexts: comparing attitudes towards volunteering with prisoners and people with mental illness

Provisionally accepted
Lara Dá Mesquita Lara Dá Mesquita 1Jaime Oliveira Jaime Oliveira 2Mariana Pinto da Costa Mariana Pinto da Costa 1*
  • 1 Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  • 2 University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Volunteering represents an opportunity for social transformation and social cohesion. Portugal is one of the European countries with fewer volunteering initiatives. Generally, society distances itself from individuals with mental illness and prison inmates, therefore, stigma becomes one of the barriers to social reintegration. However, volunteering can be a beneficial intervention helping individuals in their reintegration.Objectives: This study aims to compare the differences and similarities in the attitudes of volunteers towards volunteering with people with mental illnesses and prisoners.Methods: A supplementary qualitative secondary analysis was conducted using transcripts from thirty-nine semi-structured individual interviews with volunteers regarding support of inmates in prison and two focus groups with volunteers regarding support of people with mental illness. Data analysis was conducted through an inductive thematic analysis.Results: Four themes emerged from the analysis: 'Volunteer motivation and characteristics', 'Volunteer's role', 'Volunteering relationship and its impact', and 'Challenges faced by volunteers'. There were several similarities between the perspectives towards volunteering in prisons and in mental health care, including the need for specific training in the area and the positive attitudes and behaviours of both groups of volunteers towards volunteering with the individuals supported. The differences were related to the characteristics necessary to be a volunteer, the activities carried out with the individuals supported and the difficulties faced by volunteers.Conclusions: These findings show overall positive attitudes towards volunteering in mental health and in prisons.

    Keywords: attitudes, mental illness, Prions, inmates, volunteering, Volunteers, Qualitative study Portugal

    Received: 04 Jun 2024; Accepted: 13 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Dá Mesquita, Oliveira and Pinto da Costa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mariana Pinto da Costa, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.