Hesed Evaluation Study: Jewish Identity, Community Orientation and Voluntarism – Report Number 4: Findings from a Survey of Hesed Home Care Workers

  • Research Staff: Sima Zalcberg, Esther Katz, Iaroslav Youssim
  • Categories:
  • Publication Year: 2003
  • Status: Research Report
  • Target Population:
  • Catalog Number:

    S-112-03
library_books Executive Summary
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This report is the fourth in a series presenting the findings of a comprehensive evaluation study of Hesed Community Welfare Centers in the former Soviet Union. The study was initiated by the JDC-FSU Department and conducted by the JDC-Brookdale Institute in cooperation with the William Rosenwald Institute for Communal and Welfare Workers in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Hesed model, a multi-faceted service network, was designed by the AJJDC at the end of the Communist era to respond to the needs of an aging Jewish population with severe economic and health problems. It embodies three guiding principles: Jewish values, community orientation and voluntarism. Today, approximately 170 Hesed Centers serve over 250,000 clients throughout the FSU.

The goal of the study was to evaluate the degree to which Hesed’s activities conform to the principles on which the model was based. The study was conducted at eight Hesed Centers in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and examined the contribution of Hesed from the perspectives of Hesed directors, staff, volunteers, home care workers, and clients, and from the perspective of key figures in the community.

This report examines the perceptions of the home care workers who work with Hesed’s clients regarding their opportunities for training, their work with Hesed’s clients, the role of volunteers at Hesed, and Hesed clients’ situation and their unmet needs. A total of 1,116 home care workers were randomly sampled out of the total home care workers in these eight cities (1,444). The response rate was 68% (763).

Selected findings:

  • Most (69%) of the home care workers have been working for Hesed for more than two years, and 25% of them have been working for Hesed for more than four years.
  • The majority of home care workers are satisfied/very satisfied with their relationship with their clients (88%), and do not usually encounter problems working with them (60%).
  • A large percentage (83%) of home care workers reported that Hesed had expanded their knowledge about the Jewish people and Jewish tradition. Most (79%) of them reported that this was important or very important to them.
  • The reports of the home care workers indicate the role played by the volunteers at Hesed. Almost 30% of home care workers reported work with volunteers during their work with Hesed clients; the vast majority of them were satisfied with the volunteers’ work (87%), and felt that it was important (91%).
  • The reports of the home care workers indicated their high evaluation of Hesed as a work place. Almost all of them (98%) reported being satisfied with their work for Hesed.
  • The majority (77%) of the home care workers reported that they had received professional training while working at Hesed during the past two years. Nevertheless, half of the home care workers reported a need for additional training in a variety of fields, particularly in psychology and health issues. 

This study was conducted with funding from the JDC-FSU Department and has already been utilized in the ongoing development of the Hesed Center network.