Volunteerism among homeless persons with developmental disabilities

Background: Homeless people with developmental disabilities (DD) have been historically stigmatized and excluded from mainstream society, despite efforts to successfully integrate them into the community^1-5. In the only study of volunteerism among the homeless, Bowgett (2005) found 13.5% volunteered, primarily in homeless services organizations. Participants reported primarily altruistic reasons for volunteering, however some reported the desire to gain job-related skills⁶. We aimed to add to this literature by exploring volunteerism in homeless persons with (DDs). We hypothesized that increased volunteerism will be associated with several indicators of stability (i.e., increased age, education, shelter residence, and visiting with friends/family). Furthermore, unemployment will be associated with increased volunteerism due to having more disposable time and benefiting from gaining job-related skills.

Methods: This two-phase study consists of semi-structured interviews (n=60) with a purposive sample of St. Louis area homeless persons (age ³18 ; received special education). While the first phase on capacity-to-consent to research participation is presented elsewhere⁷, the second phase is a community integration focus presented herein. In addition to demographic data, we queried participants using the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) (reliability coefficient=.91)⁸, modified for this study. Participants received $10 in bus tickets as remuneration. Chi-square analyses and independent-samples t-test bivariately-assessed factors associated with volunteerism. Significant (or near significant) independent variables were entered into a multiple logistic regression model predicting the likelihood of being a volunteer.

Results: Nearly half (46.8%) of this sample volunteered, with 82.7% doing so in homeless programs. Volunteers were significantly older than non-volunteers on average (M_age=34.68; SD=9.49 vs. M_age=37.14; SD=13.56; t(58)=-.82; p=.004). Volunteerism was associated with visiting friends/family monthly (c²=6.12; p=.01) and employment status (c²=4.52; p=.03). Shelter residence approached significance (c²=3.39; p=.07), while education was non-significant. For the logistic regression model (c²=18.01; df=4; N=60; p=.001), visiting with friends/family monthly increases the odds of volunteering by 6.95 (CI[95%]=1.33, 36.30; p=.02). Unemployment decreases the odds of volunteering by a factor of 0.17 (CI[95%]=.03, .95; p=.04).

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that nearly half of our homeless sample volunteer, a substantial increase over the Bowgett (2005) study. Homeless people with DDs may volunteer in homeless agencies to benefit from training experience, but may also serve an altruistic function as a way "to give back" to providers who have assisted them. Similarly, visiting family/friends suggests stability and maintenance of social and community ties. This finding remained significant in the model that included increased age and shelter residence. We hypothesized that unemployment would increase volunteerism, yet this was not supported. In fact, those who are employed are also more likely to volunteer. Reasonably, these persons may be more stable, may not need as much job-training as the unemployed, and may also be altruistic. Our study is limited by the small convenience sample, lack of self-report validation and other measures such as disability severity. Future research with a larger sample is needed to validate these findings and results. Implications include increased attention to the role of volunteerism in services provided to homeless populations with developmental disabilities.