Benefits, Motivations, and Barriers Related to Environmental Volunteerism for Older Adults: Developing a Research Agenda

Abstract

Interest in civic engagement focused on the natural environment has grown dramatically, as has the population of older adults. Our article explores the potential for increased environmental volunteerism among older adults to enrich the lives of volunteers while benefitting the community and environmental quality. Curiously, this convergence has been relatively neglected by researchers and program developers. We review existing literatures on trends in volunteerism, motivations, benefits, and barriers to participation, with a special focus on elements most relevant to older adults. Based on this review, we identify a number of critical areas of research, and pose key research questions.

Benefits for Older People Engaged in Environmental Volunteering and Socializing Activities in City Parks: Preliminary Results of a Program in Italy

“…Experiencing nature with others facilitates communal and shared experiences. In particular, environmental volunteering is useful for counteracting the risk of social isolation of older persons by bringing together people in a meaningful activity in nature [15], thus providing them the chance to belong to a group and build social connections [16]. The sharing of experiences [17] and common community tasks [18] have been highlighted in the literature on the social benefits of environmental volunteering as activities that increase one's sense of place ownership and community cohesion [16,19].…”

“…As a result, older volunteers may assume new identities, such as 'caretakers, guardians and advocates' of the people and places where they live, redefining their social roles in a positive and meaningful way [20,21]. In turn, by caring for places, volunteering can potentially lead to a greater concern for the environment and changes in people's behavior towards more pro-environmental activities [15,21].…”

Recruiting and Retaining Participants in Citizen Science: What Can Be Learned from the Volunteering Literature?

“…Research suggests that participants may have a greater number of and different motivations to those that the project manager has identified (Grimm and Needham 2012), and may gain different benefits from participating than those expected by the project organisers (West 2015). For example, Bushway et al (2011) summarise some of the benefits that older people may gain from environmental volunteering and suggest that the benefits to the individual (such as health, cognitive, and psychological benefits) may be greater than the benefits to the project. It may be beneficial, therefore, for project staff to research the motivations of their participants.…”

Recruiting and Retaining Older Adults in Volunteer Programs: Best Practices and Next Steps

“…Older adults also have a wealth of knowledge and skills, gained from their personal life experience, that could be used in a variety of volunteer settings. For example, Bushway et al (2011) suggest that many older adult volunteers have the necessary skills needed to observe, record, and report information about environmental issues in their communities.…”