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The foundation of healthy workplace design is an understanding of work practices. Volunteers comprise the majority of the workforce in care centers using horses to address human health issues. Documentation is lacking on protections for worker well-being in equestrian microenvironments which are known to have the potential for dust exposures. Climate acts as a master variable in equestrian facility design and ventilation usage to address dust and temperature concerns. Using climate as an independent variable, our objective was to characterize space usage, safety, environmental control, and organizational practices through a national survey of equine assisted programs. We found that more fully enclosed indoor arena spaces were in cold/very cold and mixed-humid climates (p = 0.0114). Annually more volunteers (p = 0.0073) work in these two climate groups averaging 100 volunteers per location. A total of 34% of all facilities, regardless of climate, do not use mechanical ventilation systems (e.g., fans). As volunteer worker time in the arena increased, time in the barn microenvironment tended to decrease (p = 0.0538). We identified facility designs, ventilation usage, and worker arrangements to refine the scalability of future air contaminant monitoring and to provide frameworks for education, workplace design, and prevention of exposure to dust.

Large events have huge impacts on local economies. Many tourists travel to participate in various events. Ma jority of large Finnish events could not be organized without volunteer workers. However, in the Finnish research literature these volunteer workers are often overlooked even though without them the number of annual Finnish events would be considerably smaller. In this study we examine motivations of Finnish volunteer workers regarding their participation in a cultural event and how the volunteer workers are committed to the event. Through principal component analysis seven motivational factors are identified: Career orientation, Love of Culture, Personal Growth, Extrinsic Rewards, Expression of Values, Community Involvement and Interpersonal Contacts. Based on the motivations four clusters of volunteer workers were identified: Communals, Career Oriented, Helpful Socials and Culture Lovers. Even though there were no differences between clusters in their commitment to the event, motivations have various effects on commit-ment. The results provide insights into motivations of volunteer workers in a cultural event and help Finnish events understand their volunteer workers better and ensure the future of the events., Motivations and commitment of volunteer workers in a culture event: Case Ilosaarirock Large events have huge impacts on local economies. Many tourists travel to participate in various events. Ma jority of large Finnish events could not be organized without volunteer workers. However, in the Finnish research literature these volunteer workers are often overlooked even though without them the number of annual Finnish events would be considerably smaller. In this study we examine motivations of Finnish volunteer workers regarding their participation in a cultural event and how the volunteer workers are committed to the event. Through principal component analysis seven motivational factors are identified: Career orientation, Love of Culture, Personal Growth, Extrinsic Rewards, Expression of Values, Community Involvement and Interpersonal Contacts. Based on the motivations four clusters of volunteer workers were identified: Communals, Career Oriented, Helpful Socials and Culture Lovers. Even though there were no differences between clusters in their commitment to the event, motivations have various effects on commit-ment. The results provide insights into motivations of volunteer workers in a cultural event and help Finnish events understand their volunteer workers better and ensure the future of the events.

Temaet for oppgaven er frivillig arbeid. Oppgaven er en kvantitativ analyse av ulike typer frivillige arbeidere i Norge. I denne oppgaven defineres frivillig arbeid som «arbeid du gjør for organisasjoner eller personer uten at du får vanlig lønn for dette» (Respons Analyse og Institutt for Samfunnsforskning 2014: 11). Bakgrunnskapittelet starter med å gjøre rede for ulike definisjoner og avgrensninger av frivillig arbeid, i tillegg til å redegjøre for hvilken definisjon av frivillig arbeid som blir benyttet oppgaven. Deretter blir frivillighetens historie i Norge fra middelalderen til i dag gjennomgått i grove trekk. Den siste delen av bakgrunnskapittelet ser på frivillighetens rolle i det norske samfunn i dag. Herunder blir frivillige organisasjoner og frivillig arbeids forhold til offentlig og privat sektor, og sosiale medier gjennomgått. Kapittelet Teori og tidligere forskning tar for seg teori og tidligere forskning på frivillig arbeid. Hovedfokuset for teorikapittelet er Hustinx og Lammertyn sin inndeling i idealtypene kollektiv og refleksiv frivillighet (Hustinx og Lammertyn 2003). Etter redegjørelsen av kollektivt og refleksivt frivillig arbeid blir frivillig arbeid sett på i lys av individualiseringen av samfunnet, normteori og rasjonell handlingsteori. Disse blir igjen diskutert opp mot Hustinx og Lammertyn sine idealtyper. Blant tidligere forskning finner vi Hustinx sin klassifisering av frivillige arbeidere, samt tidligere forskning på frivillig arbeid og sosiale kjennetegn. Oppgaven er eksplorativ og har som formål å undersøke hvilke typer frivillige arbeidere som finnes i Norge i dag. Det er to problemstillinger i oppgaven. Problemstilling 1 er «Hvilke grupper av frivillige arbeidere kan vi finne basert på frivillighetstype?» og problemstilling 2 er «Hva kjennetegner medlemmene i de ulike gruppene?». Basert på disse problemstillingene blir det formulert 3 hypoteser. Den første hypotesen er H1: «H1: Det finnes mer enn to typer frivillige arbeidere», den andre hypotesen er H2: «H2: Disse klassene av frivillige skiller seg fra hverandre i tidsbruk, tilhørighet og type frivillig arbeid de gjør». Disse to første hypotesene ble formulert for å besvare oppgavens første problemstilling. For å besvare problemstilling 2 ble hypotese 3 H3 «Medlemmene i klassene skiller seg fra hverandre på kjønn, foreldreskap, alder, utdanning og inntekt» formulert. Analysen har tre steg, ett for hver hypotese. Problemstilling 1 besvares i de to første stegene av analysen. I disse to første stegene blir metoden latent klasseanalyse benyttet. I steg 1 benyttes informasjonskriteriene AIC og BIC samt fortolkbarhet for å finne ut hvor mange klasser av frivillige som finnes basert på faktorene tidsbruk, tilknytning og type frivillig arbeid utført. Her ble de fem klassene «Aktive frivillige», «Av og på-frivillige», «Dugnadsfrivillige», «Deltakende frivillige» og «Bakgrunnsfrivillige» funnet. I steg 2 besvares hypotese 2 ved hjelp av substansielle fortolkninger av de fem klassene som ble funnet i trinn 1. De fem klassene blir her beskrevet og sammenlignet. I trinn 3 ble en multinomisk logistisk regresjonsanalyse gjort for å besvare hypotese 3 og problemstilling 2. Analysen bygger på funn fra den latente klasseanalysen, og den avhengige variabelen i den multinomiske logistiske regresjonsanalysen er tilhørighet i hver av de fem klassene. I steg 3 ble det funnet overraskende få forskjeller i sosiale kjennetegn mellom klassene. Likevel skilte alle klassene seg fra hverandre i sosiale kjennetegn. Funnene fra analysene blir diskutert opp mot tidligere forskning og teori. Herunder også spesielt Hustinx og Lammertyn sine idealtyper, Kollektiv og refleksiv frivillighet. Oppgaven finner det hensiktsmessig med fem typer frivillige arbeidere.

Background Falls are common in older people. Despite strong evidence for effective falls prevention strategies, there appears to be limited translation of these strategies from research to clinical practice. Use of peers in delivering falls prevention education messages has been proposed to improve uptake of falls prevention strategies and facilitate translation to practice. Volunteer peer educators often deliver educational presentations on falls prevention to community-dwelling older adults. However, research evaluating the effectiveness of peer-led education approaches in falls prevention has been limited and no known study has evaluated such a program from the perspective of peer educators involved in delivering the message. The purpose of this study was to explore peer educators’ perspective about their role in delivering peer-led falls prevention education for community-dwelling older adults. Methods A two-stage qualitative inductive constant comparative design was used. In stage one (core component) focus group interviews involving a total of eleven participants were conducted. During stage two (supplementary component) semi-structured interviews with two participants were conducted. Data were analysed thematically by two researchers independently. Key themes were identified and findings were displayed in a conceptual framework. Results Peer educators were motivated to deliver educational presentations and importantly, to reach an optimal peer connection with their audience. Key themes identified included both personal and organisational factors that impact on educators’ capacity to facilitate their peers’ engagement with the message. Personal factors that facilitated message delivery and engagement included peer-to-peer connection and perceived credibility, while barriers included a reluctance to accept the message that they were at risk of falling by some members in the audience. Organisational factors, including ongoing training for peer educators and formative feedback following presentations, were perceived as essential because they affect successful message delivery. Conclusions Peer educators have the potential to effectively deliver falls prevention education to older adults and influence acceptance of the message as they possess the peer-to-peer connection that facilitates optimal engagement. There is a need to consider incorporating learnings from this research into a formal large scale evaluation of the effectiveness of the peer education approach in reducing falls in older adults.