Changes in gender roles, the nature of the family, marriage patterns, political shifts, the nature of work, and the increase in the number and severity of emergencies are influencing volunteering and changing it in accordance with these changes. This study in a remote rural area in the north of Thailand explores paradigms of emergency volunteering in such areas based on the concept of the multi-paradigm model of volunteering.

A sample of twenty stakeholders: leaders, village health volunteers, the director of the local administrative organization and community heads provided data during in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using content analysis.

The results showed that the paradigms of emergency volunteering existing in the community were the functionalist paradigm and the interpreted paradigm. The functionalist paradigm relies on the belief in universal truths, thus emergency volunteering should be controlled and ordered. The community also believe that as a collective entity they achieve positive outcomes and benefits from emergency volunteering. In contrast, the interpreted paradigm relies on the belief in multiple truths. Thus emergency volunteering should be understood in terms of the individual experiences that emerge for each person from emergency volunteering. Furthermore, the community also believe that emergency volunteering should be focused on extracted cues and the process of helping emergency patients.

The conclusion of this study is that the management of emergency volunteering in the context of remote rural communities should be well ordered and be by consensus.