Utile agli altri, utile a te stesso – Un’esperienza di volontariato con ragazzi affetti da Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico
Marianna Filippini, Cinzia Raffin, Silvia Dal Ben
A group of 19 female students attending the fourth year of a Sociology, Psychology and Pedagogy lyceum and a Human Sciences lyceum, aged between 15 and 17, participated in a voluntary experience with peers affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), conducted at a centre specialising in treatment of ASD. The experience was structured into two parts — the first a training phase regarding Autism Spectrum Disorders and the second a practical participatory phase where they spent holiday periods with youths affected by ASD (19 teenagers aged between 15 and 18, all males). The investigation centred on whether the experience, by providing the girls with the opportunity to learn how to enter into relationships with peers affected by autism and experience abilities and capabilities in these relationships, could have a positive influence on their sense of self-efficacy in significant life contexts, including school. To this aim the centre operators were asked to evaluate how successful the interactions between volunteer and patient were and the female students were asked to evaluate how useful they found the experience. The entire volunteer sample found the experience to be useful in terms of acquiring competences and improving interpersonal relationships, whilst the perception of being able to successfully transfer the positive effects of the experience to the school environment appeared to be mediated by convictions regarding own intelligence and learning goals.