Who We Are and How We Talk About Volunteering: Older Adult Volunteers' Perspective

Guided by the Communicative Ecology Model of Successful Aging (CEMSA), we conducted an interview study with 25 older adult volunteers (M = 71.8 years old, SD = 5.19) to explore how they discursively negotiated their identities and communicated about volunteering during the aging process. The conventional view of old age and aging tends to be negative, however, our findings from the older adult volunteers' accounts revealed positive themes regarding their self-categorization and volunteering experiences. These themes include: (a) positive representations of self and other older adult volunteers, (b) transcendence of negative perceptions of old age and aging through volunteering involvement, and (c) communication about engaging in selection, optimization, and compensation in managing volunteer work. Our findings carry significant theoretical and practical implications, underscoring how positive self-categorization and adaptive management of volunteering remarkably contribute to building an ecology of successful aging.

Resilience to Stress and Adversity: A Narrative Review of the Role of Positive Affect

The modern conception of mental health encompasses not only mental illness but also mental wellbeing, including positive emotional states and other forms of positive experience. Accordingly, research on resilience - that is, recovery or adaptation following adversity - has recently expanded to consider the roles of positive affect in the resilience process. To review this research, we performed a keyword search of all peer-reviewed journals within the American Psychological Association's PsycInfo database, retrieving all studies of positive affect in the context of resilience. These studies measured positive affect either as the outcome of the resilience process or as a resilience resource in its own right. With positive affect as the outcome, the literature suggests that various resilience resources can promote positive affect following a stressor, especially positive personality traits (eg, hope, optimism, self-compassion) and supportive interpersonal connections. With positive affect as a resilience resource, the literature suggests that higher levels of positive affect may protect individuals from the impact of stress on a number of outcomes, such as depression and trauma symptoms. In all, the reviewed research showcases a wide range of stressors, resources, and outcomes, and there are numerous openings for future discoveries in this promising area of inquiry.

Volunteering and political participation are differentially associated with eudaimonic and social well-being across age groups and European countries

Voluntary participation is thought to promote the well-being of engaged individuals, especially in old age, but prior evidence on this link is mixed. In the present studies, we used the cross-sectional data from Round 6 (2012) of the European Social Survey (ESS) to investigate the variation in the associations between voluntary participation and eudaimonic (e.g., sense of direction) and social (e.g., perceived social support) well-being across types of participation (nonpolitical volunteering vs. political participation), age groups, and European countries. Study 1 addressed individual-level associations and age differences therein (preregistered at https://osf.io/2p9sz and https://osf.io/6twqe). Two-level multiple regression with an extensive set of control variables showed that at the within-country level, the associations between voluntary participation and well-being indicators were small on average. Nonpolitical volunteering had significantly more positive effects than did political participation, whereas few significant age differences emerged. Study 2 focused on the country-level variables that might explain the substantial cross-national variation in the main effects of voluntary participation (preregistered at https://osf.io/mq3dx). Only GDP per capita was a significant moderator at the country level: The associations of nonpolitical volunteering with eudaimonic well-being were more positive in the European countries with lower GDP. Other country-level variables (Gini coefficient, social welfare spending, and democracy indices) yielded no consistent moderation effects. Study 3 considered potential country-level explanations for the substantial cross-national variation in whether younger or older adults appeared to benefit more (preregistered at https://osf.io/7ks45). None of the country-level variables considered (effective retirement age in men, life expectancy at 65, average age of members of the national parliament and cabinet, and youth unemployment rate) could account for this variation. We conclude that, given the large cross-national variation in the effects of voluntary participation on well-being and in age differences therein, more attention to national specifics is warranted.

Examining the relationship between civic engagement and mental health in young adults: a systematic review of the literature

Researchers have examined civic engagement as a health promotion tool among older adults and adolescents, yet less is known about its mental health implications for young adults. This systematic review identified 53 articles on civic engagement and well-being in young adults. Five key themes emerged: (1) varying associations between type of civic engagement and well-being, (2) duration and frequency of civic behaviors, (3) directionality in the civic-to-well-being pathway, (4) mediation and moderation factors affecting the civic-to-well-being pathway, and (5) civic engagement as a tool for coping with adversity or systemic oppression. Civic engagement demonstrates a heterogeneous relationship to well-being; future research should focus on the explanatory pathways for positive, negative, and null correlations particularly among historically marginalized young adults.

The health advantage of volunteering is larger for older and less healthy volunteers in Europe: a mega-analysis

There is a vast literature on the health benefits associated with volunteering for volunteers. Such health advantages are likely to vary across groups of volunteers with different characteristics. The current paper aims to examine the health advantages of volunteering for European volunteers and explore heterogeneity in the association between volunteering and health. We carry out a mega-analysis on microdata from six panel surveys, covering 952,026 observations from 267,212 respondents in 22 European countries. We provide open access to the code we developed for data harmonization. We use ordinary least squares, fixed effects, first difference, and fixed effect quantile regressions to estimate how volunteering activities and changes therein are related to self-rated health for different groups. Our results indicate a small but consistently positive association between changes in volunteering and changes in health within individuals. This association is stronger for older adults. For respondents 60 years and older, within-person changes in volunteering are significantly related to changes in self-rated health. Additionally, the health advantage of volunteering is larger for respondents in worse health. The advantage is largest at the lowest decile and gradually declines along the health distribution. The magnitude of the association at the first decile is about twice the magnitude of the association at the ninth decile. These results suggest that volunteering may be more beneficial for the health of specific groups in society. With small health advantages from year to year, volunteering may protect older and less healthy adults from health decline in the long run.

The association of human, social, and cultural capital with prevalent volunteering profiles in late midlife

Volunteering can be critical to late middle-aged adults' well-being. Hence, it is essential to understand the antecedents of volunteering in this age group. The present study of Singaporeans aged 50 to 59 (N = 1620) considered 18 volunteering acts and used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify volunteering profiles. The relationships between human, social, and cultural capital and the derived profiles were then examined with reference to resource theory. We observed three prevalent volunteering profiles: low (having a low tendency to engage in any volunteering acts), informal instrumental (primarily offering instrumental help in informal settings), and diverse (exhibiting instrumental and relational acts in formal and informal settings). Using low volunteering as the reference group, we found that informal instrumental volunteering was only predicted by the strength of social networks (social capital). In contrast, diverse volunteering was predicted by several factors including education level, work status, depressive symptoms (human capital), household size, the strength of social networks, attendance at community events (social capital), and religious affiliation (cultural capital). The LCA-derived volunteering profiles reveal population heterogeneity in terms of volunteering acts. The observed relationships between capital and volunteering profiles have implications for policies promoting volunteering in Singapore.

Voluntary work for the physical and mental health of older volunteers: A systematic review

Background

The increasing imbalance between the number of older adults not working and the number of adults in the age range of labour force participation (age range 20-64) has long been a fundamental public policy challenge in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries. At a societal level, this growing imbalance raises serious concerns about the viability and funding of social security, pensions and health programmes. At an individual level, the concern is probably more that of aging well with the prospect of many years in retirement. Some research suggests that retiring for some carries the risk of a fast decline in health. Volunteering can play a significant role in people's lives as they transition from work to retirement, as it offers a "structured" means of making a meaningful contribution in society once the opportunity to do so through work has been cut off. Some older people consider voluntary work as a way to replicate aspects of paid work lost upon retirement, such as organisational structure and time discipline. In many countries, volunteering of the older adults is increasing and programmes designed specifically for this subpopulation are emerging. Volunteering may contribute to both individuals aging well and society aging well, as volunteering by the older adults at the same time relieves the societal burden if it helps maintain health and functionality for those who volunteer. It thus remains to be established to what extent volunteering impacts on the physical and mental health of those who volunteer.

Objectives

The main objective of this review is to answer the following research question: what are the effects of volunteering on the physical and mental health of people aged 65 years or older?

Search Strategy

Relevant studies were identified through electronic searches of bibliographic databases, governmental and grey literature repositories, hand search in specific targeted journals, citation tracking, contact to international experts and internet search engines. The database searches were carried out to December 2018 and other resources were searched in September 2019 and October 2019. We searched to identify both published and unpublished literature. The searches were international in scope. Reference lists of included studies and relevant reviews were also searched.

Selection Criteria

The intervention of interest was formal volunteering which can be described as voluntary, on-going, planned, helping behaviour that intend to increase the well-being of strangers, offers no monetary compensation and typically occurs within an organisational context. We included older people aged 65 or over who are engaged in formal voluntary work. The primary focus was on measures of physical and mental health. All study designs that used a well-defined control group were eligible for inclusion. Studies that utilised qualitative approaches were not included.

Data Collection and Analysis

The total number of potential relevant studies constituted 17,046 hits. A total of 90 studies, met the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised by the review authors. The 90 studies analysed 47 different populations. Only 26 studies (analysing 19 different populations) could be used in the data synthesis. Forty-six studies could not be used in the data synthesis as they were judged to have too high risk of bias and, in accordance with the protocol, were excluded from the meta-analysis on the basis that they would be more likely to mislead than inform. Eighteen studies did not provide enough information enabling us to calculate an effects size and standard error or did not provide results in a form enabling us to use it in the data synthesis. Finally, of the 26 studies that could be used in the data synthesis, two pairs of studies used the same two data sets and reported on the same outcome(s), thus in addition two studies were not used in the data synthesis.Meta-analysis of both physical health outcomes and mental health outcomes were conducted on each metric separately. All analyses were inverse variance weighted using random effects statistical models that incorporate both the sampling variance and between study variance components into the study level weights. Random effects weighted mean effect sizes were calculated using 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Sensitivity analysis was carried out by restricting the meta-analysis to a subset of all studies included in the original meta-analysis and was used to evaluate whether the pooled effect sizes were robust across components of risk of bias.

Results

The 24 studies (analysing 19 different populations), used for meta analysis were from Australia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Korea and United States, three were a randomised controlled trial and 21 were NRS. The baseline time period (the year the voluntary work that was analysed was measured) spanned by the included studies is 30 years, from 1984 to 2014 and on average the baseline year was 2001. On average the number of follow up years was 5, although with great variation from 0 to 25 years. The average number of volunteers analysed (not reported in four studies) was 2,369, ranging from 15 to 27,131 and the average number of controls was 13,581, ranging from 13 to 217.297. In total the average number of participants analysed was 14,566, ranging from 28 to 244.428.Ten studies analysed the effect of voluntary work on mortality, however, eight studies reported a hazard ratio and two studies reported an odds ratio. We analysed these two types of effect sizes separately. A hazard ratio <1 indicates that the treated, the volunteers is favoured. That is, the conditional mortality rate is lower for volunteers. All reported results indicated an effect favouring the volunteers, primary study effect sizes lied in the range 0.67-0.91. The random effects weighted mean hazard ratio was 0.76 (95% CI, 0.72-0.80) and statistically significant. The two studies that reported odds ratios of mortality supported this result. There was no heterogeneity between the studies in either of the meta analyses.Three studies analysed the effect of voluntary work on incident functional disability, using a hazard ratio as effect measure. All reported results indicated an effect favouring the volunteers, primary study effect sizes lied in the range 0.70-0.99. The random effects weighted mean hazard ratio was 0.83 (95% CI, 0.72-0.97) and statistically significant. There was a small amount of heterogeneity between the studies.Two studies analysed the effect of voluntary work on decline in instrumental activities of daily living, using an odds ratio as effect measure. Both reported results indicated an effect favouring the volunteers (0.63 and 0.83). The random effects weighted mean odds ratio was 0.73 (95% CI, 0.53-1.01) and not statistically significant. There is no heterogeneity between the two studies.Three studies analysed the effect of voluntary work on maintenance of functional competence, using an odds ratio as effect measure. All reported results indicated an effect favouring the volunteers, primary study effect sizes lied in the range 0.67-0.83. The random effects weighted mean odds ratio was 0.81 (95% CI, 0.70-0.94) and statistically significant. There is no heterogeneity between the studies.In addition a number of other physical outcomes were reported in a single study only.Three studies analysed the effect of voluntary work on depression, and reported results that enabled the calculation of standardised mean difference (SMD) and variance. The effect sizes are measured such that a positive effect size favours the volunteers. All reported results indicated an effect favouring the volunteers, primary study effect sizes lied in the range 0.05-0.66. The random effects weighted SMD was 0.12 (95% CI, 0.00-0.23) and statistically significant. There is a very small amount of heterogeneity between the studies.In addition, a number of other mental health outcomes were reported in a single study only.We did not find any adverse effects.There were no appreciable changes in the results across components of risk of bias as indicated by the sensitivity analysis.

Authors' Conclusions

The review aimed to examine effects on all types of physical and mental health outcomes. With the exception of mortality, there was insufficient evidence available. The available evidence, however, does suggest that there is an effect on the mortality of volunteers, although the effect is small. We found evidence that voluntary work reduces the mortality hazard of the volunteers aged 65 and above. The effect corresponds to a 43% chance of the volunteers dying first which should be compared to a fifty-fifty chance (50%) of dying first if the intervention had no effect. The evidence seems robust in the sense that we did not find any heterogeneity between the studies. As the intervention, unlike most other interventions in the social welfare area, is not costly, it could be prescribed to more older adults. In fact as the intervention in contrary to carrying a cost is a productive activity contributing directly to community well-being and has a positive effect on the volunteers it probably should be prescribed universally. However, due to the very nature of the intervention, it is voluntary and it cannot be prescribed. But more people could be encouraged to take up voluntary work if the opportunity was immediately available and visible.

Aspects of the volunteering experience associated with well-being in older adults

ISSUES ADDRESSED

While the psychological health benefits of older people's engagement in formal volunteering are well-documented, there is limited research assessing how volunteering may produce these favourable outcomes. To guide the development of volunteer positions that optimise outcomes, this study examined (a) which aspects of the volunteering experience are most strongly associated with favourable psychological health among older adults and (b) whether relationships between these aspects and psychological outcomes are moderated by sociodemographic characteristics.

METHODS

A sample of 293 volunteers aged 60+ years (69% female, mean age = 73.33 years) completed measures assessing their engagement in volunteering, various aspects of their volunteer experience, and their psychological health.

RESULTS

Being adequately appreciated for one's contribution, perceived social and mental intensity of the volunteer role, and believing that others benefit from one's volunteering efforts were found to be associated with higher levels of psychological health.

CONCLUSIONS

Ensuring the contributions of volunteers are explicitly recognised, providing opportunities for engagement in social and cognitive activities, and informing volunteers of the benefits others experience constitute potential means of enhancing volunteer outcomes and may assist with volunteer retention. SO WHAT?: This study builds upon the limited research assessing which aspects of the volunteering experience are most strongly associated with favourable psychological health among older adults. The findings point to the potential importance of four specific aspects of the volunteer experience in enhancing psychological health outcomes.

Informal Support, Health, and Burden Among Parents of Adult Children With Autism

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Many adults with autism spectrum disorders require lifelong reliance on caregiver support. As these caregivers age and experience health challenges, social support can be critical. This study seeks to understand if caregiver health moderates the relationship between informal social support and caregiver burden.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

A total of 320 parents (age 50+ years) of adult children diagnosed with ASD were recruited from autism organizations and support groups and completed a web-based survey. Separate moderation analyses were used to determine if caregiver health was moderating the relationship between informal social support and composite caregiver burden, as well as the separate domains of developmental, time dependence, emotional burden, and impact of caregiving on finances. For each analysis, perceptions of available informal social support were the independent variable, composite and domains of caregiver burden were dependent variables, and parents' self-reported general health was the moderating variable.

RESULTS

Caregiver health had a statistically significant moderating effect when predicting the relationships between informal social support and composite caregiver burden, as well as time dependence burden and impact of caregiving on finances.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Increased attention should be focused on supporting the current and future needs of both aging caregivers and their adult children with ASD. Future research on the dynamics of social support, health, and burden is also urgently needed to address the growing number of aging caregivers of adults diagnosed with ASD.

Improving Attitudes to Volunteering Among Older Adults: A Randomized Trial Approach

Promoting engagement in formal volunteering represents a potential means of facilitating healthy aging. Given reluctance to participate in volunteering has been partially attributed to negative perceptions of various aspects of this activity, this study assessed whether trialing volunteering can improve perceptions among older people. Using a parallel-group design, Australians aged 60+ years ( n = 445) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, one in which they were encouraged to trial volunteering and one in which they were asked to continue their usual activities. Perceptions and attitudes among those in the volunteering condition became significantly more favorable over 6 months relative to those in the control condition, with this change predicted by several aspects of the volunteering experience (e.g., acquisition of skills, increased social connectedness). Providing access to roles that cater to the learning and social needs of older adults appears to be important for improving attitudes toward engaging in volunteer work.

Neighborhood Physical Disorder and Psychological Distress

Although research documents a link between neighborhood physical disorder and psychological distress, we know little about the extent to which this association varies by age. Utilizing the person–environment fit model and drawing on data from the fourth wave of the Americans’ Changing Lives Survey, we examine the extent to which age influences the association between perceptions of neighborhood physical disorder and psychological distress, as measured by depressive symptoms. We employ both continuous and categorical measures of age to test for a potential moderating effect. Overall findings based on linear regression analyses reveal that the mental distress resulting from the perception of physically deteriorating neighborhood declines with age. Stated otherwise, we find that the psychological distress associated with the perception of neighborhood physical disorder is far less pronounced for the young-old (60 years and above) and late-old (70 years and above) adults as compared with their young middle-aged (40–49 years) and late middle-aged (50–59 years) counterparts.

Helping Sex Offenders to Desist Offending: The Gains and Drains for CoSA Volunteers-A Review of the Literature

In Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA), a group of trained volunteers support sex offenders in their desistance process by engaging in a long-lasting empathic relationship. Is it safe to employ volunteers in this way? This literature review provides an overview of both theoretical explanations and empirical evidence of the possible impact of this type of volunteerism on the volunteers themselves. Fifty original research articles and reviews met the selection criteria of a systematic search. Results on effects of volunteering in general, effects of volunteer work with offenders, and effects of working with sex offenders on professionals are summarized and integrated. Generally, volunteering supports and improves physical health and mental well-being, personal growth, and citizenship. However, working with sex offenders in an empathic relationship generates both positive and negative effects on psychological and social function. Personal characteristics, task characteristics, and organizational characteristics moderate and mediate the impact.

The Volunteering-in-Place (VIP) Program: Providing meaningful volunteer activity to residents in assisted living with mild cognitive impairment

The Volunteering-in-Place (VIP) Program was developed to provide individualized meaningful volunteer activities matched to interests and capabilities for older adults with MCI in assisted living. The purposes of this single-site pre-test/post-test pilot study were to (1) establish feasibility of the VIP Program based on treatment fidelity (design, treatment, delivery, enactment); and (2) evaluate preliminary efficacy via improvement in psychological health (depressive symptoms, usefulness, purpose, resilience, and life satisfaction) and decreased sedentary activity (survey and Fitbit) at 3 and 6 months. Ten residents participated. The majority was white, female and educated, and on average 88 years old. The VIP Program was feasible and most participants continued to volunteer at 6 months. There were non-significant improvements in depressive symptoms, usefulness, purpose, resilience and recreational physical activity. The results of this study provide support for the feasibility of the VIP Program. Further study is necessary to examine efficacy.

Volunteerism and positive aging in Hong Kong: a cultural perspective

This study aims to examine factors related to volunteerism and explore the relationship between volunteerism and positive aging across three age groups. A total of 1,170 Hong Kong Chinese respondents aged between 15 years and 79 years were recruited for the study via a random household survey. Results found that age was negatively related to participation in voluntary work. Older adults aged 60 years to 75 years demonstrated the lowest volunteer participation rate compared with younger adults (aged 15 years to 39 years) and midlife adults (aged 40 years to 59 years). Paradoxically, older volunteers exhibited the highest frequency of volunteering, operationalized as spending 10 hours or more on volunteer work in the past month. Compared with younger and midlife adults, older adults were motivated to volunteer by societal concern and esteem enhancement. Participation in voluntary work was associated with three positive aging outcomes: good health, caring engagement with significant others, and productive engagement in the community. The findings suggest great potential in promoting volunteering in old age because older volunteers tend to contribute more hours than younger volunteers do, and volunteering is associated with positive aging.