Longitudinal reciprocal associations between volunteering, health and well-being: evidence for middle-aged and older adults in Europe

BACKGROUND

There is substantial evidence on the importance of voluntary activities for the health of middle-aged and older adults. Evidence on the effects of health and well-being on volunteering is more limited. This study examines reciprocal longitudinal associations between voluntary and/or charity activities and 21 indicators related to physical health, well-being, cognitive impairment and daily life functioning among middle-aged and older adults.

METHODS

Longitudinal data were collected between 2011 and 2020 from a sample of 19 821 middle-aged and older adults from 15 countries participating in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. An outcome-wide analysis and an exposure-wide analysis were applied and generalized estimating equations were used. Robustness analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

Voluntary and/or charity activities almost every week or more often were prospectively associated with greater emotional well-being, reduced risks of limitations in activities of daily living and of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at a 6-year follow-up. Positive reverse associations were found from emotional well-being to volunteering. Limitations in daily life activities, increased loneliness, high blood cholesterol, hypertension and chronic lung disease were found to impede participation in voluntary and/or charity activities over time. Feedback loops between voluntary and/or charity activities and well-being and limitations in daily activities may exist.

CONCLUSION

Understanding the reciprocal nature of the relationship between volunteering and health and well-being can help identify strategies to encourage volunteering among middle-aged and older adults with specific health conditions and to target health promotion efforts towards volunteers.

Does volunteering impact refugee women's life satisfaction, empowerment, and wellbeing? Experimental evidence, local knowledge, and causal reasoning

BACKGROUND

There are gaps in the evidence base addressing whether volunteering programs enhance the wellbeing, empowerment, and life satisfaction of individual volunteers. Program impacts are seldom rigorously evaluated, whilst construct meanings remain largely unspecified, especially in the Middle East. This study tested the impacts of We Love Reading, a program training volunteers to read aloud in their local communities. It also mapped local knowledge representation.

METHODS

We conducted a mixed-method program evaluation based on a randomized cluster trial with 105 Syrian refugee women from poor households in Amman, Jordan. At three time points (baseline, 5-month and 12-month-follow-up), we implemented a survey to measure levels of life satisfaction (Cantril), psychological empowerment (PE), and psychological wellbeing (PWB). We used regression models on panel data to estimate individual-level impacts, adjusting for women's characteristics and the moderating effects of their social networks. We also conducted net-mapping sessions to clarify local concepts and their causal connections, generating thematic analyses and fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) to represent local knowledge and causal influences.

RESULTS

Life satisfaction was the only outcome variable showing a significant impact for We Love Reading (Cantril, β = 3.00, p = 0.002). Thematic analyses and FCMs made explicit the multi-dimensional aspects of lived experiences: emphasis was placed on reaching goals, having "the full right to act," the freedom to take decisions, willingness and determination. Women explained that building their empowerment and agency was a main driver of life satisfaction, and that volunteering boosted the resolve of "not giving up" on life goals.

CONCLUSION

This program evaluation integrates scientifically-rigorous and culturally-relevant methodologies to identify impacts, local knowledge systems, and causal pathways of influence. This helps clarify how and why volunteering works in real-life situations across cultural contexts, calling attention to what programs seek to achieve, how they avoid volunteer burden, and why they generate social change.

Senior volunteers: addressing loneliness in times of COVID-19

Volunteering in old age plays an important role in addressing feelings of loneliness, but little research has been conducted on the impact of engaging in volunteering activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigates the longitudinal impact of volunteering on feelings of loneliness. We analyzed data from 31,667 adults aged 50 years and older in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), across three consecutive waves (one before the pandemic and two during the COVID-19 pandemic). Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted for loneliness, using volunteering and several control variables as independent variables, and found that even after controlling for previous loneliness, volunteering has a protective effect against experiencing feelings of loneliness. Those who participated in volunteering activities before or during the second pandemic period had a lower risk of loneliness during the second pandemic period. Volunteering during the second pandemic period, before and during the second pandemic period, and during all three periods measured in the study was negatively associated with the odds of feeling lonely. Encouraging volunteering among older adults can be a useful strategy to prevent loneliness during future emergency situations like the COVID-19 outbreak.

Examining the impact of a Volunteer-Delivered counselling service for people experiencing sight loss: a mixed methods evaluation

PURPOSE

This article describes a mixed methods evaluation of a volunteer-delivered counselling service for people experiencing sight loss, to identify the outcomes, benefits, and challenges of this model of service provision within rehabilitation services.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

A mixed methods approach was used, with both outcome and process evaluation components. Outcomes for 817 service users were assessed pre-and-post service use, using standardised (CORE10) measures. Semi-structured interviews and surveys with 22 volunteer counsellors and 4 senior counsellors were conducted, to understand their experiences of the format, content, and delivery of the service.

RESULTS

Clients presenting for counselling experienced significant levels of self-reported depression, anxiety, and feelings of bereavement. Analysis showed a significant positive change in clinical outcomes for service users who received volunteer-delivered counselling services. Volunteer counsellors saw the unique and specialist nature of the service as critical for its impact on clients, and reported benefits of volunteering for this service, including developing their skills with this client group.

CONCLUSIONS

Volunteer-delivered counselling can be effective for people affected by sight loss, providing accessible and much-needed psychological support, which is relevant given current pressures on health and social care services. There are key lessons for future models of this type.Implications for RehabilitationVision loss can have a profound negative impact on people's emotional and mental well-being, with many advocating for counselling and emotional support (CESS) to be included in low vision rehabilitative services.Despite this, access to psychological support is often overlooked in low vision rehabilitation, and access to CESS services is often poor.This study evaluated a volunteer-delivered CESS service, demonstrating that this model of service delivery is effective for this group.There are clear advantages to a volunteer-delivered model for those with sight loss, in terms of widening access, supporting integrated rehabilitative care, and reducing health inequalities.

Volunteer-led online group exercise for community-dwelling older people: a feasibility and acceptability study

BACKGROUND

Despite the clear benefits of physical activity in healthy ageing, engagement in regular physical activity among community-dwelling older adults remains low, with common barriers including exertional discomfort, concerns with falling, and access difficulties. The recent rise of the use of technology and the internet among older adults presents an opportunity to engage with older people online to promote increased physical activity. This study aims to determine the feasibility and acceptability of training volunteers to deliver online group exercises for older adults attending community social clubs.

METHODS

This was a pre-post mixed-methods study. Older adults aged ≥ 65 years attending community social clubs who provided written consent and were not actively participating in exercise classes took part in the feasibility study. Older adults, volunteers, and staff were interviewed to determine the acceptability of the intervention. The intervention was a once weekly volunteer-led online group seated strength exercises using resistance bands. The duration of the intervention was 6 months. The primary outcome measures were the feasibility of the intervention (determined by the number of volunteers recruited, trained, and retained, participant recruitment and intervention adherence) and its acceptability to key stakeholders. Secondary outcome measures included physical activity levels (Community Health Model Activities Programme for Seniors (CHAMPS) questionnaire), modified Barthel Index, Health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L), frailty (PRISMA-7) and sarcopenia (SARC-F), at baseline and 6 months.

RESULTS

Nineteen volunteers were recruited, 15 (78.9%) completed training and 9 (47.3%) were retained after 1 year (mean age 68 years). Thirty older adults (mean age 77 years, 27 female) participated, attending 54% (IQR 37-67) of exercise sessions. Participants had no significant changes in secondary outcome measures, with a trend towards improvement in physical activity levels (physical activity in minutes per week at baseline was 1770 min, and 1909 min at six months, p = 0.13). Twenty volunteers, older adults, and staff were interviewed and found the intervention acceptable. The seated exercises were perceived as safe, manageable, and enjoyable.

CONCLUSIONS

Trained volunteers can safely deliver online group exercise for community-dwelling older adults which was acceptable to older adults, volunteers, and club staff.

TRIALS REGISTRATION

NCT04672200.

Life Satisfaction and Self-Esteem in Older Adults Engaging in Formal Volunteering: A Cross-Sectional Study in Taiwan

Previous research has reported an association between life satisfaction, self-esteem, and volunteering. However, it is unclear whether self-esteem is associated with life satisfaction in older adults who are already engaged in volunteering. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the association between life satisfaction and self-esteem in older adults who were formally volunteering at a non-governmental organization in Taiwan. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 186 formal volunteers aged ≥ 65 years who were recruited from the Keelung chapter of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation in Taiwan. A hierarchical stepwise linear regression was used to examine the association between scores on the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities-Revised (HEMA-R) scale. The results showed that SWLS was significantly associated with RSES score (standardized beta (std. β) = 0.199, p = 0.003), the eudaimonic subscale score of the HEMA-R (std. β = 0.353, p < 0.001), a vegetarian diet (std. β = 0.143, p = 0.027), and volunteering for five days or more a week (std. β = 0.161, p = 0.011). In conclusion, improving self-esteem and promoting eudaimonic motives in older adults who are formally volunteering could be effective strategies for enhancing their levels of life satisfaction.

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.

Understanding volunteering intensity in older volunteers

Although volunteering is considered a good strategy for successful ageing, not many older adults are engaged in voluntary work and those who are do so mainly sporadically. This study focuses on time invested in volunteering rather than on doing voluntary work or not, as is often done in studies so far. By combining the theory of resources for volunteering with a functional and structural approach to volunteering, this cross-sectional study seeks to shed light on a wide range of factors associated with the intensity of volunteering. The study is based on a sample of 1,599 volunteers aged 50 and older participating in the Norwegian study on Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study (NorLAG). The survey includes, among others, detailed information about demographics and time invested in voluntary work and questions about attitudes, motivations, structural and other potential barriers to volunteering. Multivariate linear regression analyses indicate that a religious attitude is associated with elevated hours spent on voluntary work, while co-habitation is associated with a decreased engagement in voluntary work. In addition, people who are motivated to volunteer because they find it interesting and because volunteering allows them to use their competence spend more time volunteering. Human capital, i.e. education, income and subjective health, are not associated with the number of hours invested in voluntary work. The likelihood of contributing more volunteering hours of older men is 17.5 per cent higher than that of older women. We found no indication of a relation between work status, functional limitations, urbanisation or ethnicity and voluntary work engagement. Policies aiming to increase time investment of volunteers should strive for an optimal fit between the nature of the voluntary work and the interests and skills of the volunteers. In designing interventions to stimulate higher engagement in voluntary work, one should further promote strategies for flexible time commitment.

How to Develop Reliable Instruments to Measure the Cultural Evolution of Preferences and Feelings in History?

While we cannot directly measure the psychological preferences of individuals, and the moral, emotional, and cognitive tendencies of people from the past, we can use cultural artifacts as a window to the zeitgeist of societies in particular historical periods. At present, an increasing number of digitized texts spanning several centuries is available for a computerized analysis. In addition, developments form historical economics have enabled increasingly precise estimations of sociodemographic realities from the past. Crossing these datasets offer a powerful tool to test how the environment changes psychology and vice versa. However, designing the appropriate proxies of relevant psychological constructs is not trivial. The gold standard to measure psychological constructs in modern texts - Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) - has been validated by psychometric experimentation with modern participants. However, as a tool to investigate the psychology of the past, the LIWC is limited in two main aspects: (1) it does not cover the entire range of relevant psychological dimensions and (2) the meaning, spelling, and pragmatic use of certain words depend on the historical period from which the fiction work is sampled. These LIWC limitations make the design of custom tools inevitable. However, without psychometric validation, there is uncertainty regarding what exactly is being measured. To overcome these pitfalls, we suggest several internal and external validation procedures, to be conducted prior to diachronic analyses. First, the semantic adequacy of search terms in bags-of-words approaches should be verified by training semantic vector spaces with the historical text corpus using tools like word2vec. Second, we propose factor analyses to evaluate the internal consistency between distinct bag-of-words proxying the same underlying psychological construct. Third, these proxies can be externally validated using prior knowledge on the differences between genres or other literary dimensions. Finally, while LIWC is limited in the analysis of historical documents, it can be used as a sanity check for external validation of custom measures. This procedure allows a robust estimation of psychological constructs and how they change throughout history. Together with historical economics, it also increases our power in testing the relationship between environmental change and the expression of psychological traits from the past.

Comparative Study on Volunteering among Older Korean Immigrants in the United States and Older Koreans in South Korea

This study aimed to determine the most important factors that influence the prevalence of volunteering among older Koreans in the United States and in Korea and to identify sociodemographic resources, cultural resources, and social resources that are correlated with volunteering. The data were gathered from older Koreans aged 60 or over from the two countries (n = 480). The prevalence of volunteering was 23.3% for older Korean immigrants in the United States versus 14.7% for the older Koreans in Korea. This study found that there was a significant relationship between human capital (individual resources) and volunteering in both countries. Education and financial status had a positive relationship with volunteering among older Koreans in both countries. Cultural resources and social resources were the only important predictors of volunteering among older Korean immigrants in the United States. Regarding types of volunteering, older Koreans in both countries were more likely to participate in informal volunteering than formal volunteering. These findings differ somewhat from those reported by previous studies. This study was the first attempt to examine older adults from these two countries with a focus on the correlation between cultural factors, social resources, and volunteering.

Civic Participation as a Promoter of Well-Being: Comparative Analysis among European Countries

Previous research on the direction of the relationship between civic participation and well-being has evidenced that civic participation is a promoter of well-being among older adults in Europe. Accordingly, the objective of the present study is to identify and analyze the differences between European welfare systems regarding both civic participation and well-being. For this purpose, a logistic multilevel regression analysis was performed as an empirical strategy, using the cross-sectional data from the 9 waves of the European Social Survey (2002-2018). Significant differences in well-being were observed, with Anglo-Saxon elders being the healthiest, and the Nordic the happiest and most satisfied with their lives. In contrast, Eastern European seniors reported the lowest levels of well-being. Also, Nordic countries are the most civically engaged, followed by the Continental and Anglo-Saxon, while Mediterranean and Eastern countries engage the least. However, the impact of civic participation on well-being is strongest for the Mediterranean countries, while its impact on satisfaction and happiness is weakest for the Nordic countries. The 3 models of the multilevel analysis indicate that civic participation has a positive impact on health, happiness and life satisfaction, and that this effect is quite robust. Also, by adding country-level macro variables to the model, it is possible to reduce the random effects and hence to better explain these international differences. Concisely, the impact of civic participation on the well-being of the elderly differs across nations and should therefore be considered by policy makers.

Volunteering and loneliness in older adults: A parallel mediation model

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to examine the relationship between participation in volunteer work and loneliness among older adults, and to explore the mediating role of perceived control and perceived social self-efficacy in this association.

METHOD

This study was developed as a secondary data analysis using the data sampled from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study in USA. The sample comprised 9,944 individuals aged between 65 and 107 years (mean = 75.94, SD = 7.70; 59.4% females). Using a multi-item survey questionnaire, frequent participation in volunteer youth work and charity work, loneliness, perceived control, and social self-efficacy were assessed. To examine the mediating effects of perceived control and social self-efficacy on the association between volunteer work and loneliness, the bootstrapping technique was performed.

RESULTS

Two forms of volunteer works, namely, volunteer youth work and charity work, significantly predicted perceived control, social self-efficacy, and lower levels of loneliness. Perceived control and social self-efficacy appeared to significantly mediate the relationship between volunteer activities and loneliness.

CONCLUSION

The study's findings put forward a need to develop policy provisions that facilitate supporting systems and organizations for life-long education and recruitment of older volunteers. Community-based organizations should create and promote volunteer opportunities in older adults, thereby alleviating later-life loneliness.

Volunteering Improves Employee Health and Organizational Outcomes Through Bonding With Coworkers and Enhanced Identification With Employers

OBJECTIVE

To understand the consequences of employee volunteering and possible psychological mechanisms that produce these effects.

METHODS

Using data from more than 50,000 responses to Britain's Healthiest Workplace survey, we employed structural equation modeling to investigate the effects of people volunteering.

RESULTS

Net of a number of controls, people who volunteered reported better self-reported health, less risk of depression, and higher levels of engagement and satisfaction. These results were partly explained by volunteering creating higher levels of interpersonal social bonding and greater identification with their employers.

CONCLUSION

Employers Employers should sponsor volunteer activities and provide workplace flexibility, because employees who volunteer have greater individual wellbeing and also higher levels of pro-employer outcomes such as engagement and job satisfaction.

Social Inclusion and Communality of Volunteering: A Focus Group Study of Older People’s Experiences

The aim of this qualitative study was to describe the factors that motivate older people to volunteer and how volunteering influences their social inclusion and communality. Data were collected using focus group interviews in 2020–2021 from older people aged 65–81 years (n = 38) who had experience of volunteering in the community. The data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Based on the results, the experiences described by older people who participate in volunteering consisted of factors encouraging older people to volunteer and depended on the activation, support, and motivation of volunteer operators. The support provided by the health care services and volunteer action organization for volunteers was a key factor in encouraging older people to participate in volunteering. Moreover, volunteering impacted the communality of volunteers in several ways, influencing social capital. The sense of communality was enhanced by the way in which volunteering was carried out, including collaboration with health care services and associations. In order to strengthen the importance of volunteering in society, there is a need for close collaboration between voluntary organizations and health care service providers to develop volunteering because health care organizations cannot respond to all of the challenges faced by the ageing population.

Helping Others Helps Me: Prosocial Behavior and Satisfaction With Life During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Prosocial behavior (PsB) and its effects have been analyzed in times of crisis and natural disasters, although never before in the face of such exceptional circumstances as those created by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research analyzes the role of PsB on satisfaction with life (SWL) in Colombia, considering the negative emotional impact of events that began in February 2020. We conduct an exploratory analysis using a sample of Colombia's general population (N = 2,574; 53.2% women) with an average age of 44.66 years (SD = 15.36). Using the Classification Tree technique, we find that engaging in one or more PsBs (e.g., donating money or sharing food) enhances SWL and decreases the impact of negative emotions such as pessimism, indecisiveness, and irritability that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings are significant because they confirm the importance of life satisfaction as a personal resource for coping with complex situations and provide evidence of the benefits of PsB on one's wellbeing.

The Missing Measure of Loneliness: A Case for Including Neededness in Loneliness Scales

Prominent tools used to measure loneliness such as the UCLA Scale and DJGS include no items related to being needed, i.e., neededness. More recent scales such as the DLS and SELSA do include items on neededness, but only within their romantic loneliness subscales. This paper proposes that new iterations of loneliness scales should include in all subscales two items on neededness: (a) whether a person feels important to someone else and (b) whether that person has good ways to serve others’ well-being. The paper surveys cognate studies that do not rely on loneliness scales but establish a link between neededness and feelings of social connection. It then highlights ways in which neededness items would improve the ability of loneliness scales to specify the risk profile, to delineate variations in the emotional tone and quality of loneliness, and to propose suitable interventions. The paper outlines a theoretical argument—drawing on moral philosophy—that prosociality and being needed are non-contingent, morally urgent human needs, postulating that the protective benefits of neededness vary according to at least four factors: the significance, persistence, non-instrumentality, and non-fungibility of the ways in which a person is needed. Finally, the paper considers implications for the design of appropriate remedies for loneliness.

Associations between paid and unpaid work among Norwegian seniors: competition, complementarity or continuity?

A key issue in policy debates on active ageing is how to increase older people’s participation in both paid and unpaid work. This combined goal raises the question of whether the different activities compete for seniors’ time and energy or whether it is possible to achieve both, since such activities may instead complement one another. To address this issue, we examine associations between paid work, informal help provision and formal volunteering among 62- to 75-year-olds by using longitudinal data from the Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study (2007, 2017). Our analyses show that both work exit and part-time work are associated with a higher probability of doing unpaid work in senior years compared with full-time work. However, previous engagement in unpaid activities matters considerably, regardless of paid work status. Individuals involved in informal help or formal voluntary work in 2007 were far more likely to do unpaid work 10 years later than those who were not involved. Since seniors who are already engaged in unpaid activities before leaving the labour market are likely to continue to provide informal help and volunteer, we argue that initiatives to stimulate combinations of paid and unpaid work in late careers may be advantageous.

Volunteering Dynamics and Life Satisfaction: Self-Perceptions of Aging as a Buffer

OBJECTIVES

Research has extensively documented the concurrent benefits of being a volunteer (versus a non-volunteer), but little is known about older adults who once served as a volunteer but then stopped at some point in their lives (i.e., former volunteers). The current study tracked changes in older adults' overall life satisfaction and compared these changes among former volunteers, continuous volunteers, and continuous non-volunteers. We also examined whether self-perceptions of aging may serve as a long-term psychological buffer and protect former volunteers' life satisfaction after they quit volunteering.

METHOD

Data were from the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2016). A pooled sample of participants age 50+ (N = 10,441) indicated volunteer behaviors every other year, and we identified volunteering dynamics based on their volunteering history across 4 waves (8 years). Participants reported on self-perceptions of aging and life satisfaction in the Leave Behind Questionnaire once every 4 years.

RESULTS

Continuous volunteers reported greater subsequent life satisfaction than former volunteers and continuous non-volunteers 4 years later, when we adjusted for their baseline life satisfaction. Yet, the difference between continuous volunteers and former volunteers was absent among participants with more positive self-perceptions of aging.

DISCUSSION

This study reveals a potential discontinuity in the benefits of volunteering as older adults transition out of their volunteer activities. Findings, however, also reveal individual differences by self-perceptions of aging, offering suggestive evidence that may refine interventions to prolong the benefits of volunteering.

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.

Exploring long-term volunteerism in a community family service centre in Singapore: A Focused Ethnographic Study

Volunteerism contributes significantly to the social development of a country. Although the rate of volunteerism has steadily increased over the years, the numbers of regular volunteers remains small. While the existing literature has elucidated individuals' motivations for volunteerism, research is lacking on their motivations and challenges in sustaining long-term volunteerism. A focused ethnographic approach was adopted in this study to explore 20 participants' motivations and challenges towards long-term volunteerism. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants in one single-family service centre in Singapore from October to December 2018. Data were collected through covert observations and semi-structured interviews. Field notes, observational data and findings from the interviews were triangulated and analysed through thematic analysis. In this study, a central exhaustive description of the volunteers 'providing help while receiving good deeds' is established. This was supported with three main themes revolving around the volunteers: fulfilling life goals, deriving meaning from experiences and striking a balance in the life. These themes characterised the motivations and challenges faced by them amidst their voluntary works. They reported that the satisfaction and fulfilment through volunteering had brought personal growth, well-being and happiness to them. The sense of purpose through volunteering further enhanced their experiences. Finally, some volunteers reported that volunteering enabled them to strike a balance in their own life by engaging it as a form of solace. The findings suggest that sustained volunteerism is a multidimensional construct involving the interplay of different factors in the individual's life. By understanding motivations underlying long-term volunteerism, voluntary organisations can create volunteering opportunities that dovetail with volunteers' personal goals, thus boosting their satisfaction and incentivising their sustained engagement. Additionally, the organisations can hold regular bonding activities to promote rapport among their volunteers, beneficiaries and staff, thus encouraging the volunteers to persevere on their volunteering journey.

Volunteering among Older Lesbian and Gay Adults: Associations with Mental, Physical and Social Well-Being

Objectives: Volunteering is associated with positive well-being among older people, providing opportunities to stay active and socially connected. This may be especially relevant for older lesbian and gay people, who are less likely than heterosexual people to have a partner, children or support from their family of origin. Methods: Patterns of volunteering and mental, physical and social well-being were examined in a sample of 754 lesbian and gay adults in Australia aged 60 years and older who completed a nationwide survey. Results: Volunteers reported greater positive mental health than non-volunteers. Among the gay men, volunteers additionally reported higher self-rated health and social support and lower psychological distress. Both the lesbian women and gay men who volunteered for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) organisations also reported greater LGBTI community connectedness than volunteers for non-LGBTI organisations. Discussion: These findings provide further insight into potential factors associated with the well-being of older lesbian and gay adults.

An "Army of Volunteers"? Engagement, Motivation, and Barriers to Volunteering among the Baby Boomers

Aging baby boomers are expected to provide a large reservoir for the nonprofit sector. We find evidence which while broadly supportive of this idea also suggest limitations as to what can realistically be expected. Using data from the third (2017) wave of the Norwegian life-course, aging, and generation study (n = 2,993, age 53-71), we find that a sizable proportion is already engaged (65-68% in the past year) and around half of non-volunteers (from 58% among the youngest to 43% among the oldest) express interest in volunteering. However, most volunteering is sporadic and less than half of volunteers participate on a weekly basis. Furthermore, most of the non-volunteers who express interest seem unlikely to realize their interest as they simultaneously report important motivational and ability-related barriers to volunteering. A further challenge is that few boomers are willing to make a major commitment to volunteering. Findings suggest that to mobilize boomers, nonprofit organizations need to accommodate more self-interested and flexible forms of involvement.

A state-of-the-art review of the socio-ecological correlates of volunteerism among older adults

The health and social benefits of volunteering behaviours by older adults are well acknowledged. However, few review articles have been concerned with the correlates/dimensions of older adults’ volunteerism. Some focused only on the North American context or reviewed studies only up to 2008. This study reviewed the recent global literature in the past decade about the correlates of older adults’ volunteerism. We carried out a literature search in PsycINFO, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts and Google Scholar to identify empirical journal publications about the correlates of older adults’ (age 60+) volunteerism from 2008 to 2019. Among 112 initially eligible papers, 41 were selected. Findings were synthesised using the framework of the Socioecological Model. Existing studies mainly have used quantitative methodologies and were conducted within the context of a single Western country. Motivations included higher education, morale and mentality, previous experiences, social network, community cohesion and organisational management. Major barriers were health and financial constraints. Few studies focused on macro-level correlates. Irrelevant and confounding correlates were also discussed. We suggest practitioners recruit and retain older volunteers by identifying their needs and optimising management within the organisation. Policy makers should create a supportive environment and increase resource accessibility. Future research could conduct cross-cultural comparisons, use diverse methodologies and embrace more correlates, especially at the macro-level.

Motivations for Volunteerism, Satisfaction, and Emotional Exhaustion: The Moderating Effect of Volunteers’ Age

This investigation aims to explore the moderating role of volunteers’ age in the relation between motivations for volunteering and, respectively, satisfaction with volunteerism and emotional exhaustion. A longitudinal study was conducted with a sample of 241 Spanish healthcare volunteers. Results show that volunteers’ age moderates the relations between social motivations and satisfaction, and social motivations and volunteers’ emotional exhaustion, and also between growth motivations and satisfaction, and volunteers’ emotional exhaustion. The relationships between security motivations and satisfaction and emotional exhaustion are not moderated by age. Our findings underline that, for younger volunteers, satisfaction decreases when social motives are high, rather than low, and, in the opposite, emotional exhaustion increases when growth motives are high, rather than low. For older volunteers, instead, the only significant effect concern satisfaction, which is higher when social motives are high, rather than low.

Health and Volunteering in Europe: A Longitudinal Study

This article examines the relationship between health and volunteering in advanced age in a cross-national comparison. We used longitudinal data from five waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe covering 13 European countries from 2004 to 2015 and employed dynamic random-effects probit models to study the consequences of declining health on voluntary work. Our results confirm that worsening health conditions (i.e., mobility limitations and depression) reduce the likelihood of volunteering, whereas chronic diseases do not. Most interestingly, we found important differences across countries: Worsening health reduces voluntary work participation, especially in contexts characterized by high rates of volunteering. Our findings have implications for policy makers and voluntary organizations that aim to encourage participation: Individual characteristics and contextual aspects must be taken into account, and people with health problems might need specific support through policies, recruitment, and retention even in contexts of overall high levels of volunteering.