Well-being and ill-being: Prominences and differences in the perspectives of volunteers in the immediate and longer-term aftermaths of disaster

This paper presents the results of a PERMA (plus ill-being) analysis of the ways in which young post-disaster volunteers in Aotearoa New Zealand across the 2010-20 decade talked of well-being and ill-being. The 57 interviewees were divided into two cohorts based on whether they volunteered in the immediate or longer-term aftermath of disaster. Across both cohorts, interviewees believed that volunteering after disaster engendered significant well-being benefits, and that these benefits were instrumental in enabling them to counter the potentially negative impacts of disaster. Yet notable differences also existed between the two cohorts. A greater proportion of immediate post-disaster volunteers talked of tiredness/exhaustion (ill-being) but derived well-being from being part of a movement and enabling others. Conversely, those who volunteered in the longer-term aftermath recounted a broader experience of well-being (including a sense of being valued, commitment, satisfaction from having an enjoyable experience, interest, and developing self-belief). These findings contribute to scholarship on volunteers’ well-being by highlighting the differences in well-being experiences across youth volunteers in immediate disaster response and longer-term aftermath of disaster recovery. • Young people who volunteered in the immediate and longer-term aftermath of disaster believed involvement helped well-being. • Important prominences underpinned both immediate and longer-term post-disaster volunteers’ perceptions of well-being. • More immediate post-disaster volunteers mentioned tiredness/exhaustion than longer-term post-disaster volunteers. • Longer-term post-disaster volunteers mentioned broader well-being benefits than the immediate post-disaster volunteers.