"Volunteering by chance" to promote civic responsibility and civic engagement: does it work?
J Prev Interv Community
; 40(1): 64-79, 2012.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-22242782
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effectiveness of a program to promote civic responsibility and prevent antisocial behavior in a sample of Italian adolescents. Participants were 83 Italian male adolescents, attending the second year of high school (Mean age = 15.79; SD = 0.87). In order to test the efficacy of different strategies (in-classroom training and service activity in a voluntary organization) we divided students into two experimental groups--one classroom of students participated in both strategies (training + volunteering group) and another classroom only participated in the training (training only group)--and one control group. Process and efficacy evaluations were completed. Data were collected before and following the intervention. The process evaluation revealed that the program was highly accepted and appreciated by students. The efficacy evaluation revealed no intervention effects on civic responsibility. However, the training + volunteering group reported a significant decrease in antisocial behavior after the program. Thus, the program was effective in preventing antisocial behavior but not in promoting civic responsibility in our sample.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Politics
/
Social Values
/
Volunteers
/
Adolescent Behavior
/
Community Participation
/
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Type of study:
Qualitative_research
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
J Prev Interv Community
Journal subject:
SAUDE PUBLICA
/
SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Year:
2012
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy