Volunteerism, social context and health impacts: a qualitative study of Glasgow Commonwealth Games event volunteers

ABSTRACT

Volunteer engagement is crucial to the effective delivery of mega-sporting events. While evidence points to reported motivations and wellbeing benefits for individual participants during and post event, there is less evidence on how this type of civic participation relates to the social context in which it occurs and the wider social determinants of health. This qualitative study sought to understand the impacts on wellbeing and the determinants of health resulting from the experience of volunteering at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Focus groups and interviews were conducted one-year post-Games to gather the perspectives of 46 volunteers and 7 unsuccessful applicants on their experiences. Participants provided insight into the volunteer journey, contributions and associated outcomes. Wider social impacts were also reported including a renewed sense of pride in the city. The qualitative analysis suggested an important non-linear relationship between volunteer contributions, impacts and rewards, and the outcome of enhanced social connections. The emergent ‘people and place’ framework identifies some critical factors around city life and volunteer assets that planners could consider in developing and evaluating sustainable volunteering and its wider impacts beyond a mega-event.

KEYWORDS:

• Volunteerism
• mega-sporting event
• qualitative
• social context
• Glasgow
• health impact

This article is related to:

Research for city practice

Acknowledgements

Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) commissioned the research as a supplementary study to the clyde-sider surveys. RJ and GY (GCPH) contributed to the study design and analysis presented in this paper. The study was undertaken by a team from Centre for Health Promotion Research, Leeds Beckett University (JS, JW, KK, EM, KS). The authors would like to thank steering group members from the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Volunteer Scotland and Glasgow Life who provided advice and support during the project. Also Professor Anne-Marie Bagnall and Judy White, Leeds Beckett University, for their advice in developing the study.

Disclosure statement

Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) commissioned the research. Two of the authors (RJ, GY) are employed by GCPH and they contributed to the study design and analysis presented in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH), UK.

Notes on contributors

Jane South

Jane South is Professor of Healthy Communities at Leeds Beckett University, where her research focuses on volunteering and community assets.  Past projects include National Institute for Health Research studies on lay and peer interventions, a review on measuring community resilience for WHO Regional Office for Europe and various qualitative studies with health champions and walking group volunteers. Jane works with Public Health England in a national advisory role on communities and authored the PHE and NHS England guide to community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing. She became a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health in 2015.

James Woodall

Dr. James Woodall is a Reader and also Head of Subject in Health Promotion at Leeds Beckett University.  James has a broad research profile, but his primary research interest is the health promoting prison and how values central to health promotion are applied to the context of imprisonment.  James has published more broadly on health promotion matters, including empowerment in health promotion and the contribution that lay people can make to the public health agenda.

Kris Southby

Kris Southby is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Promotion Research at Leeds Beckett University. He completed his PhD in 2014 at Durham University, exploring the experiences of adults with learning disabilities as football fans and the impacts on social inclusion. Kris is involved in a broad range of health promotion research. He has particular interests in strategies to promote inclusion for people with learning disabilities and the role of voluntary and community sector organizations in health and wellbeing.

Russell Jones

Russell Jones co-leads the programme on ‘Sustainable and Inclusive Places’ which focuses on supporting processes of change to help Glasgow become a more inclusive, resilient, sustainable and healthy city. The programme provides evidence, evaluation and engagement with partners in relation to key priorities nationally and locally such as urban planning, transport, housing, open space, economic growth and sustainability. There is also a strong focus on increasing the capacity of local residents to influence developments in their local area.  Russell has been a social researcher for over thirty years, with extensive training and experience in both quantitative and qualitative research.  He has been involved in public health for over twenty years and has a long-standing interest regarding the influence of the environment on health.

Gregor Yates

Gregor Yates is a researcher and practitioner with a background in geography, regeneration and public Health. His research interests include planning and the built environment, climate change, active travel, sport and volunteering.  Gregor was involved in the evaluating the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games  volunteer programme and the subsequent 2018 European Championships’ ‘Team 2018’ volunteer programme. He has also supported and led on research relating to climate change, community growing and the impact of the built environment on health and wellbeing.

Karina Kinsella

Karina Kinsella is a research officer in the Public Health Institute at Liverpool John Moores University. Karina is a skilled researcher, with extensive experience of undertaking qualitative research in diverse communities, as well as systematic reviews. She has conducted both interviews and focus groups with volunteers and programme beneficiaries in many types of community health projects, including walking groups, breastfeeding peer support services, sexual health outreach, community health educators and health trainers. She is currently working on the NIHR project PALS (The Project About Loneliness and Social networks).

Ellie May

Ellie May is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Events, Tourism & Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University.  Her PhD research explored volunteers' experiences at the London 2012 Paralympic Games which was approved by the International Paralympic Committee.  In addition to her PhD research, Ellie has also contributed to a range of research projects including a research project on behalf of Women in Sport focusing on understanding women volunteering in sport. Ellie's research interests include volunteering, sport event volunteering, mega events and disability sport.