Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
School of Human Sciences (Exercise and Sports Science), University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.
Aging Ment Health. 2022 Feb;26(2):368-375. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2021.1884845. Epub 2021 Feb 11.
Volunteering has been identified as a potential mechanism for improving the psychosocial health of older adults. Utilizing a randomized controlled trial approach, the present study assessed the extent to which commencing volunteering can improve psychosocial health outcomes for older people. Fully retired Australian adults aged 60+ years (= 445) were assessed at baseline and allocated to either the intervention or control arms of the trial. Those in the intervention condition were asked to participate in at least 60 min of formal volunteering per week for 6 months. Per-protocol analyses were conducted comparing psychosocial outcomes for those who complied with the intervention condition (= 73) to outcomes for those who complied with the control condition (= 112). Those who complied with the intervention condition demonstrated significant improvements in life satisfaction, purpose in life, and personal growth scores over a 12-month period relative to those in the control condition who did no volunteering. Findings provide evidence of a causal relationship between commencing volunteering and improvements in psychosocial health among older adults and indicate that encouraging participation in this activity could constitute an effective healthy aging intervention.
志愿服务已被确定为改善老年人心理健康的一种潜在机制。本研究采用随机对照试验方法，评估了开始志愿服务对老年人心理健康结果的改善程度。对年龄在 60 岁及以上的完全退休的澳大利亚成年人（=445 人）进行了基线评估，并将他们分配到试验的干预组或对照组。干预组的参与者被要求每周至少参与 60 分钟的正式志愿服务，持续 6 个月。对遵守干预条件（=73 人）的参与者与遵守对照条件（=112 人）的参与者的心理健康结果进行了符合方案的分析。与对照组中未参加志愿服务的参与者相比，遵守干预条件的参与者在生活满意度、生活目标和个人成长得分方面在 12 个月内有显著提高。研究结果为志愿服务与老年人心理健康改善之间存在因果关系提供了证据，并表明鼓励参与此类活动可能构成一种有效的健康老龄化干预措施。
