Role Of Volunteers Research Articles

Performance motivation and Dhammanamai health literacy according to Thai traditional medicine among village health volunteers in Uthaithani province

This cross-sectional study aimed to explain levels of Dhammanamai health literacy, investigate relevant factors, and identify the predicting factors of Dhammanamai health literacy according to Thai traditional medicine among village health volunteers (VHVs). The reliability and validity from 390 VHVs were selected by proportional multi-stage sampling. Data were collected through a questionnaire from March - May 2022 in Uthaithani Province, Thailand. Data were analyzed through descriptive analysis, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis test and logistic regression. The results of the study showed that most of the VHVs had adequate levels of Dhammanamai health literacy ( X ̅= 61.22, SD. = 13.87), while gender (p = 0.023), occupation (p = 0.026), monthly income (p = 0.004), ability to use a smartphone/computer (p = 0.029), recognition of volunteer roles and duties (p < 0.001), performance motivation (p < 0.001), and social support (p < 0.001) were significantly related to Dhammanamai health literacy. The predicting factors that influenced Dhammanamai health literacy among VHVs were as follows: 1) performance motivation (OR= 1.175, CI=1.055–1.309); 2) age (OR= 1.041, CI=1.012–1.071); 3) occupation (OR= 1.878, CI=1.179–2.990). A very strong variable was performance motivation. In combination, all these factors could predict the Dhammanamai health literacy of the VHVs at 20.7%. We recommend interventions on performance motivation, age, and occupation with the organization of a program to promote Dhammanamai health literacy for VHVs to be ready to perform their duties in the community, including the provision of knowledge to the public.

Well-being creation by senior volunteers in a service provider context

PurposeGiven the importance of senior volunteers in an ageing society, this study aims to deepen the understanding of how seniors create well-being by volunteering as service providers in terms of motivations for volunteer participation and value co-creation/co-destruction in service provision.Design/methodology/approachFocussing on senior volunteers acting as service providers in the tourism sector, this study conducted a programme of qualitative research with 15 senior volunteer tour guides in Japan and the UK through the purposive sampling method. The data were analysed by the Gioia method to identify data structure and create a conceptual model.FindingsSeniors start with a mixture of different motivations, not only symbolic and health ones. However, after a certain period of training, they become more aware of their volunteer role as service providers and may strive to maximise the benefits to their clients. The overall performance of such a role supports their well-being. They may also experience episodes of value co-destruction; such negative experiences may be overcome by building good relationships with their colleagues in the organisation.Practical implicationsThe paper identifies organisational support ideas for senior service provider volunteers aimed at overcoming negative experiences and achieving well-being, in terms of training and improved communication between organisation members.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the transformative service research literature by constructing a model to showcase the relationship amongst expectations of volunteering as a service provider, service delivery and well-being creation. This paper also discusses the positive and negative effects of volunteer service delivery on senior volunteers' well-being.

Protectors of Society: Understanding the Impact of Courtesy Stigma on the Experiences of Volunteers Working With Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offences.

Volunteers are integral to the criminal justice system. For some, this involves providing support in the community to those convicted of sexual offences, which has been found to reduce the risk of reoffending. Currently, the impact on volunteers of working within this context is not well understood, despite the significant stigmatisation of those convicted of sexual offences. This study aimed to address this gap through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, focusing on how 'courtesy stigma' (Goffman, 1968), a type of stigma-by-association, impacted on this experience. Eleven volunteers within one organisation were interviewed. Volunteers strongly identified with the volunteer role, and stigma served to strengthen their role identity as individuals who helped those no-one else would help. Participants also exhibited some maladaptive coping strategies and symptoms indicative of burnout. These results contribute significantly to the small body of work on volunteer role identity, stigmatisation, and the social and psychological impacts of volunteer association with a highly stigmatised population.

THE SENIOR COMMUNITY SERVICE EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM: NEW DATA ON OLDER ASIAN WORKERS

Abstract The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is the only federal employment program for people aged 55 and older. While 6% of the approximately 60,000 participants are Asian and federal funds are set aside to serve Asian workers, little is known about their personal characteristics and experiences in SCSEP. Using novel data from an online and paper-based Massachusetts survey of SCSEP participants from April to August 2022 offered in multiple languages, this study aimed to describe Asian participants’ characteristics and experiences in SCSEP. Respondents (Nf39) ranged in age from 58 to 73. Almost all spoke a language other than English at home, and all respondents were born outside of the U.S. Nearly half reported a high school degree or less, and none reported “excellent” health. One-third reported feeling lonely occasionally or in specific situations. While two-thirds have made recent tradeoffs in paying for important goods and services (e.g., food and health care), most reported that their personal finances, social engagement, family life, and self-confidence have improved due to SCSEP. Further, 9 in 10 agreed that their supervisors understood the goals of SCSEP and were supportive. A quarter said separately that it was very likely they would search for a paid job or volunteer role after exiting SCSEP. These results contribute to the small amount of literature on older Asian American workers while informing the work of organizations that serve older Asian workers who have experienced multiple barriers to employment relating to nativity status, language abilities, and anti-Asian discrimination.

MAKING “NONESSENTIAL” FAMILY/VOLUNTEER CAREGIVING ESSENTIAL IN LONG-TERM CARE HOMES

Abstract For individuals living in long-term care (LTC), loneliness is often a concern. With the COVID-19 pandemic, this is only exacerbated as strict restrictions are put in place on visits between residents and their loved ones and on volunteer presence. Understanding how these changes affect residents, family caregivers, and volunteers is paramount to best implement changes with regards to how family/volunteer caregiving presence is managed during pandemics. The objective of this study was to gain a better understanding of the response to COVID-19 that pertains to the family caregiver and volunteer presence in LTC and increase the evidence about the impact of reduced levels of family caregivers and volunteers on residents, caregivers, and volunteers. A total of 64 semi-structured interviews were conducted with caregivers and volunteers. Of these interviews, 49 were one-time interviews and 15 were weekly interviews over a 5-month period to examine the impact of the ever-changing pandemic restrictions on caregivers, volunteers, and residents. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interviews and two independent researchers coded each interview. Results highlight the importance of connections in LTC, the feeling that human rights were neglected, the importance of flexibility amongst staff, the role of caregivers as advocates for residents, increased caregiver guilt, and resident decline in physical and emotional well-being. The role of family caregivers and volunteers as essential in LTC homes will be discussed and recommendations to revisit policies on the family caregiver and volunteer presence to improve the preparedness for future pandemics and outbreaks will be presented.

Gambling in the Moral Economy: A Case Study of Law and Regulation in a Pandemic

This article adapts the concept of the moral economy and applies that adapted concept to UK gambling regulation during the early years (2020-21) of the COVID-19 pandemic. I extend the moral economy concept beyond the eighteenth-century English food riot, and beyond food staples. I also examine the role of law and regulation in the moral economy and highlight charity's importance to moral economy debates. I then consider gambling through a moral economy lens by exploring the pandemic-era regulation of horserace betting, lotteries, and bingo. I show that gambling in some forms (horserace betting and lotteries) was important to pandemic recovery projects and to spectacles of national coming together. Via lotteries, for example, the state sought to adjust customary expectations about the role of volunteers in providing essential services. Although regulators generally ignored bingo, there was a pandemic resurgence in self-organized games that is especially significant for work on the moral economy. I conclude by identifying some broader implications of this study, including on how essentiality is legally constructed, and on charity and volunteering within the moral economy.

The role of female volunteers in disaster response organisations: A qualitative research.

Despite a high demand for people to participate in disaster volunteering, the extent of contribution received from female volunteers in disaster response organisations constitutes an important debate. In the Elazığ earthquake on 24 January 2020, the role of female volunteers in rescuing a female victim from the wreckage once again demonstrated the importance of considering female volunteers when creating response capacities for disaster risks. This qualitative study aims to evaluate the roles of female volunteers who play an active role in disaster response organisations in a society with gender equality issues. This qualitative study included 15 National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE) female volunteers who took an active role in the Elazig earthquake and was performed between 15.07.2020 and 16.04.2021. Data were collected using an in-depth interview method. The data were analyzed using content analysis and the comments were given descriptively. Based on the qualitative analysis, the following concepts were explored among the participants: Volunteering, volunteering in disasters, the effects of volunteering on social life, being a woman in disasters, volunteering female in disasters, the 'motherhood myth', gender inequality. Women are key actors in tackling disaster damage and increasing available social resilience to disasters. In addition, women can use special attributes such as motherhood, which is socio-culturally defined and taught as an advantage, for the common good of society. Moreover, special elements, such as the image of the 'superwoman' in relation to the responsibilities imposed on women in disaster response organisations, which distort gender equality against women, appear as possible factors of harm for women. This study shows that female volunteers can play a life-saving role in chaotic situations such as disasters, contribute to the empowerment of women, increase sensitivity to gender and, in connection with this, the development of democracy in societies where gender inequality is high. On the other hand, special situations such as the image of 'superwoman', which aims for excellence in both private and public spheres in the responsibilities imposed on women, can destroy gender equality against women and increase women's fragility.

The Role of Volunteerism and Buddhist Ethics for the Covid-19 Pandemic Response in Thailand

Thailand was the first country outside of China where a case of COVID-19 was found when a tourist entered the country from China in February 2020. Still, up until now, the overall mortality from covid-19 remains much lower than in most other countries. What are the factors of this success? In this paper, we focus on the role of volunteerism and argue that its seamless integration into the Thai public health care system is founded upon the predominantly Buddhist religious culture in the country and corresponds to the cultivation of Buddhist virtues, such as karuṇā (compassion), and the motivation to tham bun (do/make merit). We suggest that Buddhist ethics and its habituation constitutes the key factor that underlies the country’s strong volunteer culture. We address our topic by surveying the existing literature conducting semi-structured interviews with seven health volunteers in May and June 2022. We deal with the possible objection that Theravāda Buddhism practiced in Thailand is an individualistic religion and a rather negative motivating factor for volunteerism and efficient pandemic response.

‘I take care and the state sabotages from the beginning to the end!’: tracing ‘volunteering’ in European provision arrangements for refugees and asylum seekers

ABSTRACT In the spring of 2015, the citizens’ initiative ‘We Welcome’ in a small municipality in Western Austria published a manifesto to announce that it had invented and granted ‘municipal asylum’ to two asylum seekers, to protect them from deportation by national authorities. In this article, I follow the logics of the extended case method as I discuss the initiative We Welcome as an extraordinary example of volunteering in the asylum regime. Recent literature on the role of volunteers in refugee reception fails to historically situate volunteering as part and parcel of provision arrangements for asylum seekers and refugees. I address this gap by looking into the emergence of ‘volunteering’ as an object of knowledge production and policy-making since the 1980s. I further show that the experiences of the initiative’s participants run counter to hegemonic discourses, which picture ‘volunteering’ as a means to produce trust and social cohesion. Instead of eliciting their trust, their experiences as volunteers deeply alienated them from the nation-state, and their citizenship was unsettled.

Fireside Chat on the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Special Edition of the Health Equity Journal Featuring Authors.

Fireside Chat on the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Special Edition of the Health Equity Journal Featuring Authors.

Fred J Boyd Oration 2021

Fred J Boyd Oration 2021

Understanding the role and deployment of volunteers within specialist palliative care services and organisations as they have adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-national EAPC volunteer taskforce survey

Background: Early indications were of a major decline in specialist palliative care volunteer numbers during COVID-19. It is important that ongoing deployment and role of volunteers is understood, given the dependence of many palliative care services on volunteers for quality care provision. Aim: To understand the roles and deployment of volunteers in specialist palliative care services as they have adjusted to the impact of COVID-19. Design: Observational multi-national study, using a cross-sectional online survey with closed and free-text option questions. Disseminated via social media, palliative care networks and key collaborators from May to July 2021. Setting/participants: Any specialist palliative care setting in any country, including hospices, day hospices, hospital based or community teams. The person responsible for managing the deployment of volunteers was invited to complete the survey. Results: Valid responses were received from 304 organisations (35 countries, 80.3% Europe). Most cared for adults only (60.9%), provided in-patient care (62.2%) and were non-profit (62.5%). 47.0% had cared for people with COVID-19. 47.7% changed the way they deployed volunteers; the mean number of active volunteers dropped from 203 per organisation to 33, and 70.7% reported a decrease in volunteers in direct patient/family facing roles. There was a shift to younger volunteers. 50.6% said this drop impacted care provision, increasing staff workload and pressure, decreasing patient support, and increasing patient isolation and loneliness. Conclusion: The sustained reduction in volunteer deployment has impacted the provision of specialist palliative care. Urgent consideration must be given to the future of volunteering including virtual modes of delivery, micro-volunteering, and appealing to a younger demographic.

Improved Communication Skills Assisting Cancer Patients Through Counseling Training Palliative Volunteers in Surabaya

Introduction: The prevalence of tumors/cancer in Indonesia is increasing. Many cases of cancer at an advanced stage experience severe symptoms and cause suffering that has not been handled properly. Palliative care helps a cancer survivor and his or her family to live a more comfortable life to have a better quality of life. Methods: For this reason, a team that works in an integrated manner includes both medical and non-medical personnel, including volunteers. The role of volunteers in palliative care teams varies according to need and can be involved in hospital care, or at home, expected to bridge between health care institutions and patients. Psychiatrists at Dr. Soetomo General Hospital Surabaya and their residents try to give four sessions of volunteer training to raise awareness, provide health education, or even provide some simple type of medical care and work as counselors. Results: After giving four training sessions every week, the ability of palliative teams had increased. They have the capability to communicate more effectively and efficiently, which is therapeutic, so it is necessary to provide them with counseling skills to listen to, understand, and respond positively when communicating with cancer patients and their families.

Home Visitations, Referrals and Linkage by Community Health Volunteers in Supporting Maternal Health Care Services in Dadaab

Background: There is an increase in the involvement of CHVs in healthcare in low and middle-income countries and the model is being used in refugee camps to enhance access to Primary Health Care including maternal health services. This is in line with the idea of optimizing health workers roles which targeted to address critical health worker shortage, by shifting downwards certain tasks to health workers with less training, such as from nurses to Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) to increase universal access to maternal healthcare. The public health adopted the community health strategy that employs CHVs in providing health care services for the refugees in Dadaab. The role of CHVs on maternal healthcare in the refugee camp has not been clearly described. Objectives: The main objective of the study was to determine the roles of community health volunteers in home visitations, referrals, and linkage to promote maternal health care services in the Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study with both qualitative and quantitative methods conducted at Ifo-1 camp, in the Dadaab Refugee complex. It targeted the CHVs and some Key Informants (KIs) involved in maternal health care services. The sample size for quantitative data was 74 CHVs selected by simple random sampling while for qualitative was 5 KIs selected purposively, making the study population 79. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews; analyzed descriptively and thematically and presented in form of tables, graphs, charts, and narratives. Ethical consideration involved study approval by the University of Nairobi Kenyatta National Hospital Ethics Research and Ethics Committee; permission from relevant authorities in Dadaab and obtaining informed consent from the participants. Results: The results showed that CHVs played a significant role in promoting maternal health care through home visitation and referrals. All the CHVs provided home visit services. Majority conducted more than two visits for Antenatal Care 66 (89%) and after delivery to deliver maternal health services. All the respondents conducted referral and follow-up services where 58(78%) identified pregnant mothers for referral; 51(67%) traced defaulters. There was, however, a weaker link after discharge from antenatal care clinics and no framework for implementing home visits and referrals or community maternal healthcare. Conclusion: The CHVs are playing a significant role in promoting the uptake of maternal health services in the Dadaab refugee camp through home visitations and referrals and linkage between the health system and the refugee community. Recommendations: There is a need to establish a framework for implementing community-based maternal health to guide and support, supervise CHVs, and strengthen monitoring of maternal health services in the community. Further, there should be more involvement of the CHVs by the antenatal care (ANC) clinic after discharging antenatal mothers from the clinic to continue with care and follow-up

The Role of Volunteers in a Swimming Organization for Persons with Disabilities.

Participation in leisure time physical activity (LTPA) has considerable health-related, psychological, and social benefits. However, the involvement of individuals with disabilities is considerably less than that of their peers without disabilities. A higher rate of participation of individuals with disabilities in LTPA may be achieved by the active involvement of volunteers. This study aimed to describe the importance of volunteer involvement in a swimming organization focused on individuals with disabilities, as perceived by all participants, including swimmers with disabilities, their parents, volunteers, and coaches. The organization uses volunteers as swimming instructors who work individually with swimmers with disabilities. The data were obtained through 11 semi-structured interviews with swimmers with disabilities and their parents, volunteers, and coaches. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a five-step inductive thematic analysis. As a result of the cooperation with the volunteer swimming instructors, swimmers with disabilities felt an improved range of movement, greater independence, and higher self-esteem than before they started using the services of the swimming organization. Consequently, even individuals with severe disabilities can participate in LTPA. Membership to the organization also provided space for the establishment of new social relations, and the instructors described them accepting persons with disabilities as their equals. More importantly, the involvement of volunteers enables organizations to provide respite care for parents.

A survey of hospice day services in the United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland : how did hospices offer social support to palliative care patients, pre-pandemic?

IntroductionSocial support is described by patients and other stakeholders to be a valuable component of palliative day care. Less is known about the range of hospice services that have been used in practice that facilitate social support. An online survey aimed to gain an overview of all hospice day services that facilitated social support for adults outside of their own homes.MethodsAn online survey was distributed via email to people involved in managing hospice day services. Questions were asked on hospice characteristics, including staff and volunteer roles. Respondents were asked to identify services they felt offered social support to patients. Data collection took place between August 2017 and May 2018.ResultsResponses were received from 103 hospices in the UK and ROI (response rate 49.5%). Results provide an overview of hospice day and outpatient services that offer social support to patients. These are: multi-component interventions, activity groups, formal support groups, befriending, and informal social activities. Multi-component interventions, such as palliative day care, were the most commonly reported. Their stated aims tend to focus on clinical aspects, but many survey respondents considered these multicomponent interventions to be the ‘most social’ service at their hospice. The survey also identified a huge variety of activity groups, as well as formal therapeutic support groups. Informal ‘social-only’ activities were present, but less common. Over a third of all the services were described as ‘drop in’. Most responding hospices did not routinely use patient reported outcome measures in their ‘most social’ services.ConclusionsThe survey documents hospice activity in facilitating social support to be diverse and evolving. At the time of data collection, many hospices offered multiple different services by which a patient might obtain social support outside of their own home and in the presence of other patients.

Leader development in work and volunteer contexts: Expected practice and unexpected opportunities

Our knowledge and practice of leader development is grounded mostly in leadership at work, with little focus on the common experience of leading both work and in a volunteer context. To better understand how leaders develop as a result of leading not only in work but also in volunteer roles, we interviewed 40 leaders and sought to understand their motivation to lead in multiple domains, their process of development, and their outcomes of development. Our findings show that leading in multiple domains – at work and in volunteering contexts – plays an important role in leader development. Specifically, leaders develop through both expected practices (such as learning and developing new skills) and through unexpected opportunities that represent new opportunities to lead, exposure to new people and ideas, and new perspectives. Further, as a result of leading in both work and volunteering contexts, leaders reported developing a more integrated sense of themselves as “whole persons” as they engaged in both expected and unexpected development. We discuss ways in which a volunteering-based approach to leader development may open other important avenues for leader development beyond intentional, workplace-based approaches.

The Colorectal Cancer Alliance: Reshaping volunteerism during COVID-19.

282 Background: Nonprofits across the United States have been severely limited during the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic and have seen big drops in volunteer engagement. According to one survey, two-thirds of volunteers decreased or stopped contributing their time altogether due to the pandemic leaving a major gap in available support for nonprofits at a time when demand for many of their services has risen substantially. The Colorectal Cancer Alliance sought to adapt to the “new normal” of socially distanced operations by restructuring existing programs and encouraging our community to volunteer in virtual capacities during this time of social distancing. Methods: Each year, staff members at the Alliance collect data on volunteer roles, hours, and participants. Using this data, we are able to analyze and compare the number of volunteers, volunteer hours, and engagement rates for each role Data collected and reported for 2021 was compared to previous years to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volunteer hours at the Alliance. Results: The Colorectal Cancer Alliance’s established volunteer programs were promptly reshaped at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leveraging existing fluency in remote volunteer roles, the Colorectal Cancer Alliance provided more peer-to-peer support both virtually and remotely during this time of social distancing. The total reported number of volunteer hours for 2021 was 85,100.5 hours, which is a nearly 300% increase from 2020 (29,391.5 hours), nearly 400% increase from 2019 (22,141.5 hours), and over 500% increase from 2018 (16,582 hours). The highest number of volunteer hours was seen in our DIY (peer-to-peer fundraising) program at 34,681 hours, followed by our Team Captains Walk at 16,200 hours, and in online peer-to-peer support groups Ally-to-Ally and Blue Hope Nation (BHN) at 9,083 hours. Compared to the previous year, DIY increased by over 350% (10,646 hours) and Ally-to-Ally and BHN increased by over 1200% (867 hours). It is interesting to note that peer-to-peer mechanics drove the largest increases during the isolating COVID years. Conclusions: Our results indicate the Colorectal Cancer Alliance was able to maintain full functionality and discover new and creative ways to not only keep volunteers engaged, but to also increase volunteer impact during the pandemic. The spike seen in peer-to-peer support efforts and activities helped contribute to increased psychosocial support for our volunteers and constituents. These positive outcomes from virtual volunteerism encourage us to continue to engage our volunteers in a virtual capacity going forward to broaden the scope of our impact during this time of social distancing. As COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, the Alliance plans to maintain the virtual and remote programs in place and to continue encouraging our allies to volunteer in any capacity they can.

Volunteers of mega-events as co-creators of host destinations: Volunteers' experience, value, and satisfaction toward host destination

Volunteers serve as the largest labor force in a mega sporting event and may become ambassadors for the host city and event. Volunteers at a mega sporting event are considered the co-creators because they mentally and physically participate in the event from start to finish. Therefore, understanding the role of volunteers as co-creators is critical. Volunteers can also have experiences as tourists, because they tend to spend their free time by sightseeing in the host city. However, the tourist and co-creation experiences of volunteers remain underexplored. Therefore, this study aims to empirically explore the experience of volunteers in the host city, by considering the broader perspectives of volunteers. A survey questionnaire was administered to volunteers at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. A latent moderated structural equation (LMS) modeling was employed to test the established hypotheses. The findings demonstrated that volunteers hold experiences as tourists and co-creators, and these experiences influence the perceived value of the event.

Animals in Animal-Assisted Services: Are They Volunteers or Professionals?

Simple SummaryAnimal welfare is a growing concern in Animal-Assisted Services. Although studies have been conducted on stress signals and—to a lesser extent—positive emotions, no research has yet been conducted on the motivation of the integrated animal, to the best of our knowledge. Not all therapy animals are trained to assist. Are they volunteers or professionals? Volunteers have a higher degree of self-government and can quit when they are not motivated anymore. Professionals might, however, go the extra mile. Can we compare animal volunteers and professionals to their human equivalents? If so, this might help to structure discussions about animal welfare and motivation in interventions. Furthermore, it can provide better arguments for the career planning and career ending of these animals. Using animal-friendly interventions might influence motivation and, consequently, the moment at which efforts cease. Studying motivation is not easy, as it requires data on dopamine, the molecule involved in motivation, reward and repetition of behavior. However, the use of wearable techniques such as on site electroencephalograms (EEGs) for freely moving animals and non-invasive dopamine measurements is a developing and promising area of research. The translation of these data into context-ethograms—ethograms that show behavior in a context/intervention—can help handlers and therapists to understand the behavior of their therapy animal better and with less subjectivity.With the increasingly common practice of Animal-Assisted Services (AAS), whether in therapy, coaching, education, or volunteering programs, the concern over animal welfare has also risen. However, no standards have yet been established for good practices to ensure the animal’s mental health. This is largely due to the wide variety of roles played by animals in interventions and the lack of ‘job descriptions’ for the animal in diverse settings. Some professionals call their animal a ‘volunteer’, others mention that some directive guidance is given to the therapy animal, and some assistance animals are highly trained. Misunderstandings could be avoided if the integrated animal were to receive a justifiable label: volunteer or professional. Choosing either one comes with obligations for the owner, handler, or therapist. In this paper, we compare the roles of human volunteers and professionals to the roles of animals involved in therapy. We also demonstrate the obligations that come along with the decision to label animals as such either volunteers or professionals. Furthermore, we make a plea for animal-friendly interventions, whether in a volunteer position or as a professional, in order to stimulate the animal’s cooperation and motivation. Studying dopamine and translating the findings into context-ethograms can provide a way to judge behavior more objectively.