Table 3 Excerpts representing the categories defined based on the open-ended questions
Volunteers | Representative excerpts |
Usefulness | “I felt useful again. It’s very nice to give to others.” “I feel useful. I think all this moves my day.” “The face-to-face work makes me feel useful.” |
Self-realization | “The return was emotional for everyone; there were demonstrations of affection, even watery eyes by emotion. My physical and emotional self-esteem has soared. Helping others helps me a lot.” |
Helping others | “It was good to see different people in my daily life, to receive the affection of the residents saying that we were greatly missed, to help them in the activities, and to see them happy.” |
Relationships and sociability | “Seeing beloved people (residents, staff, and other volunteers) does me a lot of good.” “Socializing with residents and other volunteers changes your vibratory pattern.” |
Employees | Representative excerpts |
Reduced overload | “The return helped the caregivers, leaving them less burdened.” “The return was significant, as it reduced some of the service overload. We don’t always have time to talk to them for a long time, only during assistance. The joy of the elderly is evident.” |
Reduced demand in the sector | “We noticed a lower demand from the elderly concerning medical care.” “It was excellent. The elderly felt more welcomed and, therefore, the demand in my sector decreased.” |
Return to normal routines | “It was important because it indirectly showed that routines can return to normal.” “It was important because the daily routines are getting back to normal.” “For example, for hairdressing in the beauty salon, we sometimes removed employees from the scales to do this service.” |
Residents | Representative excerpts |
Activities outside the room | “Happy to be able to perform an activity outside the bedroom.” “We can leave our rooms and occupy our minds with different activities.” |
Occupying time | “More joy and stimulus for doing something. A light for us!” “Improved in the sense of having something to do, gradually returning.” “Occupying myself with something. Being without an activity is not good.” |
Meeting people | “I started interacting more with people and improved my physical well-being.” “Meeting people was important.” “Interaction with people. After the return, we started doing pizza Saturdays to gather and tell stories.” |