Spiritual and moral guidelines for the personality of volunteers: a qualitative study

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of spiritual and moral aspects of the personality of volunteers using a qualitative method. The relevance of the study is due to the small number of scientific psychological research in this area. The purpose of the study is to identify spiritual and moral guidelines of the person, associated with manifestation of spiritual capacities. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the empirical study of spiritual abilities of volunteers using a high-quality research strategy. Data collection was carried out using semi-structured interviews. The study was attended by volunteers, consisting in groups of charitable foundations of the city of Moscow, helping hospices, a hotline for helping cancer patients, etc. Using the in-depth interview method and subsequent phenomenological analysis of the data, descriptions by volunteers of their experience of volunteering in the context of its significance for their present and future life were obtained. The analysis of these interviews revealed common themes, collected from the interviews of all respondents, which manifested themselves in the most or all interviews. Conclusions were made about spiritual and moral guidelines of volunteers, associated with all three components of spiritual capacities. The results of the study suggest the possibility of further detailed studies.