ABSTRACT
Introduction: Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) cover the gap that the public and private sectors leave in the provision of services to people in a critical time of their lives. Volunteers constitute a significant part of the personnel of NGOs today and they are often referred to as their backbone.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of NGO volunteers in relation to the care of persons with different cultural background.
Methodology: A cross sectional study was performed using a convenience sampling. The data collection was conducted by anonymous self – completed questionnaire and lasted from January to May 2020. The access permit and the informed consent of the volunteers were obtained. For the analysis, the statistical program SPSS 22.0 was used. The significance level was set as two- tailed at 0,05.
Results: The majority of the participants were males (80%) and 40,0 % were between 31-40 years. The 44,4 % was working on average 1-3 times a year in the Non – Governmental Organization and most of them had positive comments for that experience. The 29,2% of the participants declared to be highly trained for the provision of education and counseling in a way that respects the cultural identity of the people and for the management of moral conflicts rising from the intercultural healthcare, yet the level of knowledge was mediocre. Finally, the 62,5% agreed that there is prejudice on behalf of the health professionals towards the patients of different ethnic group.
Conclusions: The intercultural differences regarding the perception and the expression of care, and the intercultural factors affecting its provision, must seriously be consindered since they constitute a fact that all the volunteers will face in their volunteering career. The volunteers through the intercultural training shall acquire the cultural skill in order to be able to provide a more integrated care in the multicultural environments they are working.
Key words: knowledge, volunteering, NGO, cultural diversity, attitudes
