‘I Will Dream Sweet Dreams’: Understanding Remote Companionship Volunteer Activities for Factual Orphans in Rural China

Paper Title

‘I Will Dream Sweet Dreams’: Understanding Remote Companionship Volunteer Activities for Factual Orphans in Rural China

Publication Info

• Topic area: Remote emotional support for vulnerable children in rural China.
• Keywords: De facto orphans, remote volunteering, emotional support, rural China, university students, HCI, psychological interventions, digital platforms, child welfare, volunteer management.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: De facto orphans in rural China face severe emotional and psychological challenges due to parental absence and unstable caregiving arrangements. Existing interventions are short-term, lack professional psychological support, and fail to address the unique needs of these children. There is limited research on remote emotional companionship programs for this demographic.
• Significance: Addressing the emotional and psychological needs of de facto orphans is critical for their well-being and development. Remote volunteer programs could provide scalable and sustainable support, especially in underdeveloped regions with limited access to professional mental health services.
• Motivation and related work: Prior research in HCI has explored remote volunteering and emotional support but has not focused on non-professional volunteers supporting vulnerable children with different life experiences. Existing studies emphasize peer or professional support, leaving a gap in understanding the unique dynamics of non-professional, remote, volunteer-led companionship programs.

Solution

• Proposed approach: The study investigates the ‘Sunshine Relatives Online Companionship’ program, where urban university students provide remote emotional support to de facto orphans in rural China. It documents the program’s practices, impacts, challenges, and technological requirements.
• Novelty:
  1. First comprehensive documentation of remote emotional companionship for de facto orphans in rural China.
  2. Identification of emotional, cognitive, and skill benefits for children.
  3. Analysis of challenges faced by volunteers and organizers, with derived technological requirements.
  4. Design implications for improving remote volunteer programs and digital platforms.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 de facto orphans (aged 8–17), 16 university student volunteers, and 5 organizers.
  • Collected data from social networks, WeChat interactions, and home visit records.
  • Thematic analysis to identify benefits, challenges, and technical requirements.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Emotional benefits: Increased happiness, sense of being cared for, and mutual growth.
  • Cognitive benefits: Awareness of higher education and emotional development.
  • Skill benefits: Improved learning, self-expression, and conflict resolution.
• Advantage over baselines: Demonstrates that non-professional volunteers can provide meaningful emotional support despite lacking shared experiences or professional training. Highlights the potential of technology-mediated programs in low-resource settings.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Stakeholder interviews and thematic analysis revealed positive impacts and challenges.
  • Identified technical requirements for improving communication, training, and program management.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited geographic scope (rural China) may not generalize globally.
  • Small sample size.
  • Future work should explore privacy protection, expand to other regions, and develop targeted technological solutions.

Summary

This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the ‘Sunshine Relatives Online Companionship’ program, where urban university students offer remote emotional support to de facto orphans in rural China. It identifies emotional, cognitive, and skill benefits for children while highlighting challenges such as restricted device access, communication gaps, and inadequate volunteer training. The study proposes nine technical requirements to address these issues, including improved digital interfaces, communication scaffolding, and volunteer management systems. These findings contribute to the design of scalable and effective remote volunteer programs for vulnerable populations.