With the potential of living longer lives, there comes a concern over the increasing number of “elder orphans,” or those who would have no family members to advocate or care for them when necessary. In work that has been cited by the AARP and popular media, Carney et al. (2016) state that up to 22% of people in the Baby Boom generation may not have family members to care for them. This calls for the investigation of existing programs addressing this issue. The Volunteer Advocates for Seniors (VAS) program, created through a partnership between a local hospital system and the corresponding county court system, is a public form of guardianship for cognitively incapacitated adults 55 years and older in Northwest Indiana. The applications of 102 potential volunteers for the VAS program were qualitatively analyzed using MAXQDA. Content analysis was used to identify themes pertaining to the attitudes and motivations to be an advocate. Preliminary analysis indicates that personal experiences with older adults, including caring for an older family member, and spending time with an older family member, along with a desire to give back to society are the most common motivations to volunteer. Beliefs that older adults are vulnerable, deserving of respect and dignity, and that society has a responsibility to care for older adults are the most common attitudes among potential volunteers. Implications for identifying volunteers for similar programs will be discussed.
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