Facilitating Volunteer Engagement Among Older Adults in Social Services: A Case Study of an Innovative Timebank Program in a Chinese Society.

Abstract

Exploring the roles of older adults as volunteers in social care settings has attracted wide attention to facilitate healthy aging and tackle care workforce constraints. However, there is little knowledge of the mechanism of engaging older adults as volunteers in the social care sector. The study applies a case study to describe the features of an innovative timebank project, Good Hands, and explore the underlying mechanism of engaging older adults as volunteers in the social care sector. Three focus groups were conducted with 12 older adult volunteers and 6 advisory group members. Thematic analysis was applied to code and analyze the content of the focus group interviews. Three emergent themes were identified as critical components: strong cross-sector collaboration, meaningfulness in voluntary work comprising 4 subthemes (including capacity optimization, care capacity enhancement, cultivating belonging, and value recognition), and a coproducing environment. Volunteer engagement of older adults in the provision of welfare for community-based care for frail peers is discussed, and practice implications are presented.