Volunteerism as an Occupation and its Relationship to Health and Wellbeing

Abstract

Occupational therapy philosophy asserts a positive relationship between occupation and health and aims to promote and restore health through enabling occupation. This study aimed to explore volunteerism as an occupation and its possible relationship to health and wellbeing from an occupational science perspective and to consider how this knowledge might be used to inform occupational therapy practice. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used, with a sample of 109 volunteers. The qualitative data are presented here and comprise written responses to two open-ended questions. The first asked the volunteers about their motivations to volunteer (MTVs) and the second asked the volunteers to describe their personal experiences of volunteering (PEVs). These data were analysed to identify patterns of MTVs and themes relating to the costs and benefits of volunteering to health and wellbeing. The findings revealed a range of MTVs, both altruistic and egoistic, as well as many and varied benefits of volunteering, providing some support for a positive relationship between volunteerism and health and wellbeing. Volunteering appeared to exert its positive effects predominantly on aspects of mental health by providing opportunities to increase confidence and self-esteem, gain social support, replace lost roles and feel included in community life. The pattern of benefits seemed to reflect the volunteers' motivations, suggesting that benefits to health may be mediated by the MTV; this was consistent with the occupational therapy philosophy that occupations need to be meaningful and purposeful to hold therapeutic value. The article concludes that engaging in a volunteer role has many potential benefits to health and wellbeing, particularly to aspects of mental health. This may have implications for the occupational therapy profession. For occupational therapists working with clients experiencing mental health problems, there may be some therapeutic value in enabling their clients to engage in a volunteer role. Future research with occupational therapists working in this area could establish if volunteerism has been used as a therapeutic occupation and its outcomes, thereby informing occupational therapy practice.

Harnessing the Therapeutic Power of Volunteering

“…• Improved affect 16 • Improved sense of well-being and satisfaction with life 3,15,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] • Improved quality of life 4,[25][26][27][28][29] • Lower rates of depression 4,22,24,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] • Reduced stress/psychological distress 28,[37][38][39] • Increased self-esteem 4,8 • Greater sense of meaning and purpose in life 5,15,16,27,[40][41][42][43][44][45] • Greater sense of achievement and motivation 17 • Escape from everyday routines and demands; achieve better work:life balance 11…”

“…• Improved coping with one's own illness 25,26,[39][40][41]46,47 • Expanded social interactions and support system 41,42,[47][48][49] • Improved family functioning 50…”

‘Doing Something Positive’: Volunteers’ Experiences of the Well-Being Benefits Derived from Practical Conservation Activities in Nature

“…Davis Smith (1999) developed a broad typology of motivations for volunteering that included mutual aid or self help, philanthropy, participation and advocacy or campaigning. The benefits of volunteering can be wide ranging including social capital, social inclusion, health and well-being, and developing skills (Dekker and van der Broek 1998;Wollebaek and Selle 2002;Black and Living 2004;Harris and Thoresen 2005;Dalgleish 2006). Volunteers provide a major source of labour in the service sectors of many nations.…”

The therapeutic power of volunteering

“…Furthermore, volunteering is thought to provide altruistic and egotistic motivations. Black & Living (2004) reported benefits to mental health and wellbeing of volunteers, which translated into improved social functioning. Volunteering has also been shown to have a beneficial effect on depression in people over 65 years of age (Li 2005).…”

“…• A bridge to participation (Hill 2009) • Provides personally meaningful occupation that has purpose, challenge and pacing (Black 2004;Leufstadius 2009) • Provides a socially valued role and a new identity (Michalos 2010) • Provides stepping stones to work and other opportunities (Fegan 2012) • Enables the volunteer to take positive risks related to a worker role (Lauber 2006) • Validates new skills (Black 2004) • Integrates mental health experience in a positive way (Mancini 2007) • Enhances and provides opportunities for hope-inspiring relationships (Perkins 2006) Fegan & Cook knowledge, but they also need to learn from and value the patient, who is an expert by experience. When individuals volunteer in a mental health service that is familiar to them, the power in relationships can be shared and clinicians are 'on tap', not 'on top' (Repper 2003;Shepherd 2008).…”