SCHOOL CLIMATE, OLDER ADULT CHARACTERISTICS, AND FULFILLMENT OF SCHOOL-BASED VOLUNTEER ROLES IN THE BALTIMORE EXPERIENCE CORPS STUDY
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2014-05-30
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
Objectives: The goals of this dissertation were (1) Chapter 2: To assess differences in perceptions of school climate from the perspective of students in grades 3-5, staff, and parents in a large urban school district; (2) Chapter 3: To evaluate staff- and student-rated school climate as a predictor of attendance (hours/week) and retention (total weeks) of older adults in time-intensive school-based volunteer roles; (3) Chapter 4: To evaluate demographic, health, and psychosocial characteristics of older adults as potential moderators of the association between staff-rated school climate and length of participation of older adults in school-based volunteer positions. Methods: Chapter 2: Using school climate survey data consisting of reports of students, parents, and staff from 112 schools, we assessed agreement between informant groups on dimensions of school climate using a multi-trait-multi-method matrix, and determined the magnitude and direction of differences between informants’ ratings using random-effects models. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 used data from 25 schools and 298 older adults participating in the intervention arm of the Baltimore Experience Corps Study (BECS). Chapter 3: We evaluated eight dimensions of school climate rated by school staff and students in grades 3-5 as predictors of attendance and retention of older adult volunteers using linear mixed-effects and Cox regression models, respectively. Chapter 4: We created interaction terms for dimensions of school climate x older-adult characteristic and tested for effect modification of the associations between characteristic of older adults and climate of the schools and length of volunteer participation using Cox regression models. When interaction terms suggested potential effect modification (p<0.10), we re-fit the Cox regression model, stratifying by the potential moderator. Results: Chapter 2: Correlations between informants tended to be strongest between staff-parent dyads and weakest for student-parent dyads. After adjusting for school-level demographic characteristics, students reported worse perceptions of school safety and better perceptions of their learning environments and parental involvement and communication compared to both parents and staff (p<0.01 for all). Parents gave the lowest ratings of parental involvement and communication, and staff gave the lowest ratings of the learning environment (p<0.01 for all). Overall satisfaction with schools was highest for staff and lowest for students (p<0.01 for all). Chapter 3: Volunteers in schools with worse staff ratings of school safety were less likely to continue volunteering than older adults in schools with better safety ratings (hazard ratio (HR): 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.43, 0.98, p=0.04). Similar trends of shorter duration of volunteer participation were observed for older adults in schools with fewer resources (e.g., programs for students with learning disabilities, school supplies; HR=0.68, CI: 0.43, 1.06, p=0.09) and lower overall satisfaction (HR: 0.68, CI: 0.43, 1.07, p=0.09). Student ratings of school climate did not predict volunteer attendance or total weeks of participation. Chapter 4: When placed in schools with better staff ratings of overall satisfaction, volunteers who indicated feeling useful to their communities and society “sometimes” (hazard ratio (HR): 0.45, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.23, 0.90, p=0.02) or “most of the time/all of the time” (HR: 0.23, CI: 0.06, 0.92, p=0.04) volunteered for more weeks (i.e., lower attrition) compared to those who indicated “rarely/never” feeling useful. Similarly, volunteers reporting “sometimes” feeling useful had lower attrition when placed in schools with higher staff-perceived safety (HR: 0.52, CI: 0.27, 0.99, p=0.05). There were no significant findings for effect modification by older adults’ demographic or health characteristics. Conclusions: The results of this dissertation highlight a need for greater understanding of how different organizational qualities promote or impede volunteer participation of older adults and how characteristics of volunteers and organizations interact to predict volunteer attendance and sustained participation. Within school-based settings, assessment of school climate from multiple informants using valid and reliable instruments is critical to understanding climate-attendance and climate-sustained participation relationships of volunteers as well as individual-organization moderation of these relationships. Our results suggest that in order to maximize participation of older adult volunteers, programs should target organizations with high perceptions of safety and older adults with high perceptions of usefulness to their communities and society.
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Experience Corps, School Climate, Volunteer, Older Adults, Retention