The impact of international volunteering on returned volunteers’ engagement with social action in relation to international development

International development volunteering is a potential route to returned volunteers’ engagement in social action on development issues after placement. Using data from a two-stage qualitative study with returned Voluntary Services Overseas volunteers, and by considering the pre-conditions and motivations for social action, this article shows that although returned volunteers commit to social action, they face challenges to engagement. Motivated by deepened, critical understandings of development, they reject some forms of action, whilst other action they value proves problematic and does not sustain. Barriers include how others respond and the lack of meaningful opportunities provided by organisations at home. Despite these challenges, some returned volunteers develop alternative, sustainable ways of engaging that have greater direct impact on development. This is significant in informing how organisations support returned volunteers (RVs) in taking action

Returned Volunteers and Engagement with Development: Final Report for VSO Longitudinal study

The Development Education Research Centre of the Institute of Education was commissioned by VSO to undertake a longitudinal study of how returned volunteers (RVs) take forward their enthusiasms, skills, passions and learning from their placement once back in the UK or Ireland. Following an initial baseline study with 49 Returned Volunteers (RVs) in May 2009 via a questionnaire, 21 RVs were each interviewed three times between July 2009 and April 2010. In addition, the research team conducted a series of discussions over the course of the research with staff from VSO in order to compare data gathered with other known evidence. The main themes from these interviews are given below and compared with other existing published research on international volunteers

Student Volunteering and Global Citizenship at UCL

This paper is based on a small study of UCL student volunteers doing placements through the Volunteering Services Unit (VSU) in 2016. The research aimed to identify the extent to which UCL students who engage in volunteering activities through UCL see a connection between their experience and UCL’s mission of equipping graduates to be ‘global citizens’. We were interested in how students understand the concept of global citizenship, how aware there were of this agenda at UCL, and to what extent their understandings aligned with UCL goals. We were also keen to explore whether students made links between volunteering and global citizenship, as well as how their volunteering and ideas about global citizenship related to their degree

Inner speech and clarity of self-concept in thought disorder and auditory-verbal hallucinations

Eighty patients and thirty controls were interviewed using one interview that promoted personal disclosure and another about everyday topics. Speech was scored using the Thought, Language and Communication scale (TLC). All participants completed the Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS) and the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ). Patients scored lower than comparisons on the SCCS. Low scores were associated the disorganized dimension of TD. Patients also scored significantly higher on condensed and other people in inner speech, but not on dialogical or evaluative inner speech. The poverty of speech dimension of TD was associated with less dialogical inner speech, other people in inner speech, and less evaluative inner speech. Hallucinations were significantly associated with more other people in inner speech and evaluative inner speech. Clarity of self-concept and qualities of inner speech are differentially associated with dimensions of TD. The findings also support inner speech models of hallucinations

Assessing negative cognitive style: Development and validation of a short-form version of the Cognitive Style Questionnaire

The Cognitive Style Questionnaire (CSQ) is a frequently employed measure of negative cognitive style, associated with vulnerability to anxiety and depression. However, the CSQ’s length can limit its utility in research. We describe the development of a Short-Form version of the CSQ. After evaluation and modification of two pilot versions, the 8-item CSQ Short Form (CSQ-SF) was administered to a convenience sample of adults (N = 278). The CSQ-SF was found to have satisfactory internal reliability and test–retest reliability. It also exhibited construct validity by demonstrating predicted correlations with measures of depression and anxiety. Results suggest that the CSQ-SF is suitable for administration via the Internet