“I Think It’s the Individual Encounters and Being Able to Impact Another Person’s Life in Some Way” - Volunteering with Undocumented Migrants: Exploring the Motivations and Perceived Effects on Health and Well-Being

Sammanfattning

Background and Objectives: Volunteering is characterised by an obligation-free action that occurs typically in an organisational setting. Its goals are to improve the health and well-being of others. Volunteering has the possibility of increasing both mental and physical health of volunteers. Values are the guiding motivators to applying for volunteering activities. The thesis aimed to understand why individuals chose to volunteer and investigate the impacts on volunteers’ well-being when participating in activities relating to undocumented migrants’ health. Methods: Data was collected through eight in-depth interviews. Participants were from different organisations volunteering with causes related to undocumented migrants’ health. The data was analysed by using qualitative content analysis. Results: The data analysis resulted in two overarching themes: 1) Finding volunteering as a meaningful engagement for societal impact, and 2) Recognising the impacts volunteering has on both the beneficiaries and the volunteers’ well-being. These themes were formed from five different categories; Believing that healthcare is a fundamental right for all, Sense of social justice guiding the reasons for volunteering, included in the first theme, and Acknowledgement of positive impacts volunteering has on their health and well-being, Recognising the importance of community and organisational support, and Challenges and concerns faced building up as stress factors included in the second theme. Conclusion: Participants motivation to volunteer stemmed from their values obtained from life experiences, with strong beliefs in healthcare being a fundamental right for all. Through volunteering, they hoped to address existing systematic barriers experienced by undocumented migrants. Participants reported volunteering having positive impacts on personal growth, learning, feelings of fulfilment, emphasizing the importance of sense of belonging. Challenges experienced led to feelings of stress and inadequacy. Overall, this study highlights the diverse reasons for choosing to volunteer and emphasises on the positive effects on one’s health and well-being.