BENEFITS AND BARRIERS FOR VOLUNTEER LEADERS OF A PARENT TRAINING-PROGRAM

Between 1989 and 1992, large numbers of volunteers were trained to lea d parenting skills workshops for parents of elementary and middle scho ol children in communities in Oregon. The authors surveyed the volunte er-leaders to examine the latter's perceptions of the benefits of and barriers to leading the workshops and how those factors related to the ir intentions to lead future groups. Surveys were mailed to 718 traine d group leaders, and 380 instruments (52.9%) were returned. Although t he numbers of trained group leaders increased each year, the percentag e of trained individuals who had conducted workshops in the 12 months before the survey declined from 82% in 1989 to 42% in 1992. Stepwise r egression analysis indicated that factors related to the personal cost to the group leader (eg, competing interests, burnout, fatigue) accou nted for 26.1% of the variance of barrier scores, whereas perceived be nefits accounted for only 6.8% of the variance. The implications of th ese results as they relate to community support and encouragement of v olunteers are discussed.