Potential for Intensive Volunteering to Promote the Health of Older Adults in Fair Health

Abstract

Volunteer service opportunities for older adults may soon be expanded. Although volunteering is thought to provide health benefits for healthier older adults, it is not known whether older adults in less than very good health are suitable candidates for high-intensity volunteering and can derive health benefits. This manuscript presents a prospective analysis of 174 older adult volunteers serving in Experience Corps Baltimore®, a high-intensity senior volunteer program in Baltimore, Maryland. Volunteers served ≥15 h per week, for a full school year, in elementary schools helping children with reading and other skills between 1999 and 2002. Volunteers were assessed with standardized questionnaires and performance-based testing including grip strength, walking speed, chair stand speed, and stair-climbing speed prior to school volunteering and at the end of the school year. Results were stratified by health status. Among 174 volunteers, 55% initially reported "good" and 12% "fair" or "poor" health status. At baseline, those in fair health reported higher frequencies of disease and disability than volunteers in excellent or very good health. After volunteering, a majority of volunteers in every baseline health status category described increased strength and energy. Those in fair health were significantly more likely to display improved stair-climbing speed than those in good or excellent/very good health (100.0% vs. 53.4% vs. 37.5%, p=0.05), and many showed clinically significant increases in walking speed of 90.5 m/s. Satisfaction and retention rates were high for all health status groups. Clinicians should consider whether their patients in fair or good health, as well as those in better health, might benefit from high-intensity volunteer programs. Productive activity such as volunteering may be an effective communitybased approach to health promotion for older adults.

Moving Toward a Holistic Conceptual Framework for Understanding Healthy Aging Among Gay Men

“…Volunteering has been associated with improved self-rated health, physical functioning, and quality of life as well as a decreased likelihood of functional dependency/disability and depression (Barron et al, 2009). For older gay men, the onset of the AIDS pandemic necessitated the need to take on greater roles in organizing and community activism (Institute of Medicine, 2011).…”

Associations Between Social Relationships and Emotional Well-Being in Middle-Aged and Older African Americans

“…However, another study of women found that African American caregivers had less stress than White caregivers and experienced more benefits (Haley et al, 2004). Volunteering may positively affect the well-being of older adults (B. Cornwell et al, 2008), including African Americans (Barron et al, 2009;MorrowHowell, Hinterlong, Rozario, & Tang, 2003).…”

Factors Predicting Civic Engagement among Older Adult Nursing Home Residents

“…Harris and Thoresen (2005) similarly found that volunteering is associated with a reduced risk of mortality. More recently, findings from several studies of Experience Corps volunteer programs suggest that high-intensity volunteering is associated with improved physical and mental health (Barron, Tan, Yu, Song, McGill, & Fried, 2009;Hong & Morrow-Howell, 2010).…”