TITLE:
Motivations and Barriers towards Volunteer Work among Family Medicine Residents and Primary Health Care Physicians in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia
AUTHORS:
Tameem Alhomaid, Amel A. Sulaiman
KEYWORDS:
Volunteers, PHC Physicians, VFI Functions, Qassim Region
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.10 No.4,
April
11,
2022
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Volunteering is an unpaid voluntary activity that provides some services to one or more other people or the community at large. Volunteer in the medical field is common. Physicians and medical students are participating in voluntary activities. This study assessed the motivations and barriers of Family Medicine (FM) Residents and Primary Health Care (PHC) Physicians in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out between 12th March 2021 to 31st September 2021 in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. 63 FM residents and 89 PHC physicians were involved. A self-administered questionnaire using Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) questions was distributed. A 30-item questionnaire is divided into 6 scales of 5 items each, which are scored using a 5-point Likert-type scale (where 1 strongly disagrees and 5 strongly agree). Results: Of 152 FM residents and PHC physicians, 91 (59.9%) were males, and Saudi 90 (59.2%). The mean age was 35 (±SD8.6) years. The majority of respondents 126 (85.7%) participated in different kinds of volunteer work. The highest rank of the benefits selected 137 (90.1%) was gained Allah’s pleasure. About 66 (43.4%) of respondents reported different reasons as barriers; lack of time was the dominant reason for 59 (38.8%). A strong statistical association was found between gender and facing barriers (P-value Conclusions: This study highlighted that the values motivation factor was the highest among the six motivation determinants. The main reason preventing respondents from doing voluntary work was the lack of time. Male gender and Saudi nationality physicians participated more in previous voluntary work P-value