Jiang Da, Warner Lisa M, Chong Alice Ming-Lin, Li Tianyuan, Wolff Julia K, Chou Kee-Lee
Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong, China.
Integrated Centre for Wellbeing (I-WELL), The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong, China.
Aging Ment Health. 2021 Apr;25(4):641-649. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2020.1711862. Epub 2020 Jan 28.
Long-term volunteering has been associated with better physical, mental, and cognitive health in correlational studies. Few studies, however, have examined the longitudinal benefits of volunteering with randomized experimental designs (e.g., intervention studies). Even fewer studies have examined whether such benefits can be shown after short-term volunteering. To fill this gap, we conducted four 1-hour volunteering intervention sessions to promote volunteering among a group of older adults with limited volunteering experience and examined the impact of volunteering on depressive symptoms, meaning in life, general self-efficacy, and perceived autonomy. A total of 384 participants aged 50-96 years were assigned at random to either an intervention group to promote volunteering behaviors or an active control group to promote physical activity. The participants' monthly volunteering minutes, depressive symptoms, meaning in life, general self-efficacy and perceived autonomy were measured at baseline and six weeks, three months, and six months after the intervention. Being in the volunteering intervention condition was not directly associated with depressive symptoms, meaning in life, general self-efficacy, or perceived autonomy at the 6-week, 3-month, or 6-month follow-ups after the intervention. However, there was an indirect effect of the intervention on depressive symptoms: participants in the intervention group, who had increased their volunteering at the 3-month follow-up, reported fewer depressive symptoms at the 6-month follow-up. Our randomized controlled trial suggests that short-term volunteering does not reliably lead to short-term changes in psychosocial health measures as correlational studies would suggest. Efforts need to be made to encourage older adults to maintain long-term volunteering.
在相关性研究中，长期志愿服务与更好的身体、心理和认知健康相关。然而，很少有研究采用随机实验设计（如干预研究）来检验志愿服务的纵向益处。甚至更少的研究考察了短期志愿服务后是否能显示出此类益处。为了填补这一空白，我们开展了四次为时1小时的志愿服务干预活动，以促进一组志愿服务经验有限的老年人参与志愿服务，并考察了志愿服务对抑郁症状、生活意义、一般自我效能感和自主感的影响。共有384名年龄在50至96岁之间的参与者被随机分配到促进志愿服务行为的干预组或促进体育活动的积极对照组。在基线以及干预后的六周、三个月和六个月测量参与者每月的志愿服务时长、抑郁症状、生活意义、一般自我效能感和自主感。在干预后的6周、3个月或6个月随访中，处于志愿服务干预条件下与抑郁症状、生活意义、一般自我效能感或自主感并无直接关联。然而，干预对抑郁症状有间接影响：干预组中在3个月随访时增加了志愿服务的参与者，在6个月随访时报告的抑郁症状较少。我们的随机对照试验表明，短期志愿服务并不像相关性研究所显示的那样能可靠地导致心理社会健康指标的短期变化。需要努力鼓励老年人维持长期志愿服务。
