Experience Corps: The Volunteer Experience

Experience Corps: The Volunteer Experienc

A Case for Stipends in Volunteer Service

Long-term, intensive volunteer roles in civic service programs are often stipended, meaning volunteers receive monetary support for their time commitment that is considerably below market wages. The effect of stipends on role uptake, performance, and perceived benefits is not known. In this study, we seek to understand the role of stipends as an institutional facilitator. Using data from a longitudinal study of older adults serving in the national service program Experience Corps (N=263), we assess stipend status relative to volunteer socio-demographic characteristics, characteristics of the service experience, and volunteers’ perceived benefits. Overall, we find that stipends may promote participant diversity. Stipended older adult volunteers also serve for longer periods of time than non-stipended volunteers and their motivations for serving are as altruistic as non-stipended volunteers. Finally, stipended volunteers report higher perceived benefits of participation than non-stipended volunteers. These results suggest that stipends may promote program inclusion, efficiency, and effectiveness

Experience Corps: Pathway to New Engagement

Experience Corps: Pathway to New Engagemen

Experience Corps: Health Outcomes of Participation

Experience Corps: Health Outcomes of Participatio

Experience Corps: Changes in Activity Associated With Participation

Experience Corps: Changes in Activity Associated With Participatio

Experience Corps: Who Are the Members?

Experience Corps: Who Are the Members

Experience Corps: Effects on Student Reading

Experience Corps: Effects on Student Readin

Sustainability of evidence-based healthcare: Research agenda, methodological advances, and infrastructure support

BACKGROUND: Little is known about how well or under what conditions health innovations are sustained and their gains maintained once they are put into practice. Implementation science typically focuses on uptake by early adopters of one healthcare innovation at a time. The later-stage challenges of scaling up and sustaining evidence-supported interventions receive too little attention. This project identifies the challenges associated with sustainability research and generates recommendations for accelerating and strengthening this work. METHODS: A multi-method, multi-stage approach, was used: (1) identifying and recruiting experts in sustainability as participants, (2) conducting research on sustainability using concept mapping, (3) action planning during an intensive working conference of sustainability experts to expand the concept mapping quantitative results, and (4) consolidating results into a set of recommendations for research, methodological advances, and infrastructure building to advance understanding of sustainability. Participants comprised researchers, funders, and leaders in health, mental health, and public health with shared interest in the sustainability of evidence-based health care. RESULTS: Prompted to identify important issues for sustainability research, participants generated 91 distinct statements, for which a concept mapping process produced 11 conceptually distinct clusters. During the conference, participants built upon the concept mapping clusters to generate recommendations for sustainability research. The recommendations fell into three domains: (1) pursue high priority research questions as a unified agenda on sustainability; (2) advance methods for sustainability research; (3) advance infrastructure to support sustainability research. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation science needs to pursue later-stage translation research questions required for population impact. Priorities include conceptual consistency and operational clarity for measuring sustainability, developing evidence about the value of sustaining interventions over time, identifying correlates of sustainability along with strategies for sustaining evidence-supported interventions, advancing the theoretical base and research designs for sustainability research, and advancing the workforce capacity, research culture, and funding mechanisms for this important work

Experience Corps: Benefits of Volunteering

Experience Corps: Benefits of Volunteerin

Experience Corps: Methodology of Member Outcomes Study

Experience Corps: Methodology of Member Outcomes Stud