School of Psychology, Curtin University, Kent St, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia.
School of Human Sciences (Exercise and Sports Science), University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
Aging Clin Exp Res. 2020 Apr;32(4):711-721. doi: 10.1007/s40520-019-01241-3. Epub 2019 Jun 14.
Volunteering among older people has the potential to deliver health benefits to the individual, along with economic and social benefits to society. However, it is not clear whether healthier people are more likely to engage in volunteering, whether volunteering improves health, or the extent to which the relationship may be reciprocal. There is an identified need for longitudinal work, especially in the form of randomized controlled trials, to establish causality.
To assess the effects of commencing volunteering among older non-volunteers utilizing a randomized controlled trial approach involving per-protocol and pragmatic analyses.
Of the 445 Australians aged 60 + years who participated in the study, 201 were assigned to an intervention arm that required them to participate in a minimum of 1 h/week of formal volunteering in a position of their choice. The remaining participants were assigned to a control condition and asked to continue their lives as usual, but were not discouraged from commencing volunteering.
Across the assessed physical, psychological, and social variables, a significant difference in sit-to-stand scores was found in both the per-protocol and pragmatic analyses, and a further significant difference in the fast pace walk was identified in the pragmatic analyses.
The results provide some support for policies and programs designed to encourage older people to engage in volunteering to maintain or improve their health.
Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12615000091505.
老年人参与志愿服务有可能给个人带来健康益处，同时也能给社会带来经济和社会效益。然而，目前尚不清楚健康状况较好的人是否更有可能参与志愿服务，也不清楚志愿服务是否能改善健康状况，或者这种关系在多大程度上可能是相互的。因此，需要进行纵向研究，特别是采用随机对照试验的形式，以确定因果关系。
利用随机对照试验方法，评估非志愿者开始参与志愿服务对老年人的影响，包括方案内和实用分析。
在这项研究中，共有 445 名年龄在 60 岁及以上的澳大利亚人参与，其中 201 人被分配到干预组，要求他们每周至少参与 1 小时的正式志愿服务，选择自己喜欢的职位。其余参与者被分配到对照组，并被要求继续正常生活，但不鼓励他们开始参与志愿服务。
在评估的身体、心理和社会变量方面，方案内和实用分析都发现了坐姿到站姿评分的显著差异，实用分析还发现了快走速度的进一步显著差异。
这些结果为旨在鼓励老年人参与志愿服务以保持或改善健康的政策和计划提供了一些支持。
澳大利亚和新西兰临床试验注册 ACTRN12615000091505。
