The roles and perceived impact of volunteers within early years interventions

Successful early years interventions are crucial for supporting the healthy development of children. These interventions often include volunteer roles in their delivery. Research is needed to understand if and why volunteer models should be considered in relation to the potential impact on service users, volunteers, organisations, and wider communities.
Work started with a scoping review that systematically mapped 66 studies evaluating volunteer led early years interventions to explore the characteristics and roles of volunteers and how their roles are evaluated. Volunteers are responsible for delivering a variety of early years interventions often involving elements of peer and social support. Less research exploring the consequences of volunteers delivering early years interventions on the volunteers, organisation and wider community was evidenced.
A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis synthesised the perspectives of 395 volunteers. Volunteers felt suited to their roles due to their personal parenting experiences, ability to create an emotional bond with parents and be a less threatening figure. Volunteers benefitted from their roles, through an increase in knowledge, career skills, social and mental wellbeing.
Building on this, qualitative interviews were conducted (n=15) with volunteers, staff and commissioners within different early years interventions. This study concluded that volunteers can potentially be beneficiaries of the intervention through becoming more upskilled and confident. Wider community members benefit through volunteers championing the early years service and their skills within future careers and their own social networks. However, significant resources are required from organisations to ensure appropriately skilled volunteers are delivering these important roles, meeting demand, whilst gaining something from their experience.
This research evidenced that volunteers can potentially maximise the wider value of an early years intervention. Those designing and funding these services should consider volunteer models when it can benefit both families and volunteers and where organisations have the resources to support both as intervention beneficiaries.