”Hjälplös fast man önskade att man kunde rädda världen” - Tjejjourstjejers syn på rollen som stödjare via chatt och deras motivationskrafter

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to explore how volunteers within young women online support chat experienced their supportive role. Further we wanted to explore what motivated these volunteers to continue with their voluntary work within the online support chat. The method chosen for this study was qualitative interviews with eight volunteers from six different young women empowerment centres. When analysing the results four concepts from Goffman’s Dramaturgical model were used to get a better understanding of the complexity of voluntary work. Furthermore, the emotional strain described by the volunteers was analysed using Lazarus and Folkman’s Coping theory. Additionally, Ryan and Deci’s Cognitive evaluation theory was utilized to understand the different motivational factors relating to volunteer work described within this study. This study found that the volunteers described that their role should consist of passive activities such as listening to and supporting the clients. Paradoxically, they experienced pressure and a desire from themselves and the clients to do more than previously mentioned, such as establishing actual changes within the clients’ life, resulting in tensions within the role. Both benefits and difficulties with the chat were described. The nature of online chat made supporting the clients more difficult. The clients’ anonymity resulted in the volunteers feeling limited in their ability to aid clients, leading to feelings of inadequacy. Only being able to communicate through written words was another difficulty that often led to miscommunications. Benefits included easily reaching their target audience, along with having enough time to figure out suitable answers and questions. The participants described being motivated by the social support within the centre, being able to participate on their own terms and lastly feeling that they did in fact support clients in a time of need.