Shimanuki Hideki, Honda Haruhiko, Ito Tsunehisa, Kasai Toshiyuki, Takato Jinro, Sakamoto Yuzuru, Inuzuka Go, Ito Yuzuki, Arayama Naoko, Ueki Shouzoh, Haga Hiroshi
Department of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University.
Nihon Koshu Eisei Zasshi. 2007 Nov;54(11):749-59.
The aim of this study was to clarify the influence of volunteerism as part of a long-term care prevention program on social and physical health indicators and QOL, as compared with non-participation among elderly people.
The baseline survey was conducted in 2003 among elderly people (age, 70-84 years) living in a rural community in Miyagi Prefecture. We recruited elderly volunteer leaders for long-term care prevention from among the 1,503 elderly people participating in the baseline survey. Of these, 77 individuals were registered as volunteer leaders. One year later, we conducted a follow-up survey to clarify the influence of volunteerism. Finally, we analyzed data for 69 volunteer leaders and 1,207 non-leaders, focusing on influences of volunteerism on social and physical health and QOL using a logistic regression model. State of volunteer activity was treated as a dependent variable, and social and physical health indicators and QOL indices as independent variables.
Non-participating individuals had significant declines in Intellectual Activity (OR: 4.51, 95% CI: 1.60-12.74), Social Role (OR: 2.85, 95%CI: 1.11-7.21), Self-efficacy for ADL (OR: 4.58, 95%CI: 1.11-18.88), Satisfaction with Economic State (OR: 2.83, 95%CI: 1.11-7.21), and Contact with Neighbors (OR: 3.62, 95%CI: 1.29-10.16), as compared with volunteers.
These results suggest that volunteerism prevents lowering of higher-level functional capacity and social networking among community-dwelling elderly individuals.
