Haake Steve, Quirk Helen, Bullas Alice
The Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2022 Feb 24;2(2):e0000138. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000138. eCollection 2022.
This paper investigates the motives for first participating in parkrun and its impact for those who volunteered compared to those who did not volunteer. A cross-sectional survey was emailed to parkrun registrants, resulting in 60,680 survey returns from parkrun participants who self-identified as volunteers only (n = 681), runners/walkers who volunteered (n = 21,928) or runners/walkers who did not volunteer (38,071). Two survey questions were analysed in this paper: (1) their motives for first participating in parkrun as a volunteer or runner/walker; and (2) the perceived impact on their health and wellbeing. More than half of respondents were female and were predominantly from a white ethnic background. Compared to runners/walkers who volunteered, those who volunteered exclusively were older, more likely to be retired and more likely to be inactive at registration. Exclusive volunteers were motivated by wanting to give something back to the community (45.8%), to feel part of a community (26.1%), to help people (24.5%) or because they were unable to run (21.1%). Runners/walkers who volunteered were more likely to volunteer because they felt obliged to (49.3%). A large proportion of exclusive volunteers reported improvements to connections with others such as feeling part of a community (83.5%), the number of new people met (85.2%) and time spent with friends (45.2%). While mental and physical health were ranked low by volunteers as a motive (4.7% and 2.7% respectively), improvements were reported by 54.5 and 29.3% respectively. The data shows that volunteering at parkrun without participating as a runner or walker can deliver some of the components of the Five Ways to Wellbeing advocated by the NHS. The characteristics of parkrun (free, regular, local, accessible and optional) make it a viable social prescribing offer that can be used as a model for other community events seeking to attract volunteers.
本文调查了首次参加公园跑的动机，以及与未做志愿者的人相比，做志愿者的人所受到的影响。向公园跑注册者发送了一份横断面调查问卷，共收到60680份来自公园跑参与者的回复，这些参与者自我认定为仅做志愿者的人（n = 681）、做志愿者的跑步者/步行者（n = 21928）或不做志愿者的跑步者/步行者（38071）。本文分析了两个调查问题：（1）他们首次作为志愿者或跑步者/步行者参加公园跑的动机；（2）对他们健康和幸福的感知影响。超过一半的受访者为女性，主要来自白人种族背景。与做志愿者的跑步者/步行者相比，仅做志愿者的人年龄更大，更有可能已退休，在注册时更有可能不活动。仅做志愿者的人参加的动机是想要回馈社区（45.8%）、感觉自己是社区的一部分（26.1%）、帮助他人（24.5%）或因为他们无法跑步（21.1%）。做志愿者的跑步者/步行者更有可能是因为觉得有义务而做志愿者（49.3%）。很大一部分仅做志愿者的人报告说，与他人的联系得到了改善，比如感觉自己是社区的一部分（83.5%）、结识的新朋友数量（85.2%）以及与朋友相处的时间（45.2%）。虽然心理健康和身体健康作为动机在志愿者中排名较低（分别为4.7%和2.7%），但分别有54.5%和29.3%的人报告有改善。数据表明，在公园跑做志愿者而不参加跑步或步行，可以带来英国国民健康服务体系倡导的“幸福五要素”中的一些要素。公园跑的特点（免费、定期、本地化、可及且可选择）使其成为一种可行的社会处方服务，可作为其他寻求吸引志愿者的社区活动的典范。
