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Perceived AltruismA Neglected Factor in Initial InterventionBar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, roneln{at}mail.biu.ac.il
Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel Perceived altruism, an attitude that clients may attribute to those who work with them, was examined in a qualitative and quantitative study about the impact of volunteers in drop-in centers for youth at risk in Israel. Data were collected by interviews, observations, case studies, and questionnaires. The results show that the volunteers' unique contribution affected the service as a whole. The beneficiaries knew that volunteers were servicing them, perceived volunteers as true altruists, were satisfied to the degree of preferring their services over that of paid workers, and were positively affected by the encounter with volunteering. A significant impact was that volunteers set a living example of the possibility of human goodness via personal encounters and demonstrated the existence of a responsive society with mutual, unconditional caring. These results exhibit practical implications for innovative interventions with youth at risk and illustrate the significance of the psychology of goodness.
Key Words: altruism • drop-in center • goodness • volunteers • youth at risk
This version was published on April
1, 2009 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 53, No. 2,
191-210 (2009) |
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