The Affective Process and Motivation for Disaster-Relief Volunteering by Nursing Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore an affective process and motivation for disaster-relief volunteering by nursing students who had experienced an earthquake. Date was obtained from group-interview with 15 nursing students, each group consisting of 5 members. By analyzing the interview dates, we found there were various processes followed before nursing students made a decision to take part in disaster-relief volunteering. Despite the nursing students’great deal of compassion for victims’ feelings, they had both a combination of positive and negative feelings as volunteers, because they not only felt very heavy responsibly as nursing students but also they were apprehensive about their status as inexperienced nurses. In order to cast aside their hesitation, and decide to participate as volunteers, they needed significant motivation, such as “acceptance of a selfish purpose for volunteering”, “goal replacement”, “passion sharing with companions” and “vicarious experience”. Thus, we have found that nursing students also repeat the process of affective response to earthquake disaster. And during this process, they realized the significance of being a nursing assistant, and eventually accepted their selfishness.