Abstract
A mixed methodology was used through the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data to determine older adults’ perspectives regarding volunteering and identify what factors can contribute to promoting it, with special emphasis on the role that their own well-being plays in this behavior. The results reveal that satisfaction with life as a whole contributes positively to volunteer behavior and satisfaction with the groups one belongs to contributes negatively. The volunteers were less satisfied than non-volunteers with interpersonal relationships and with the groups they belong to. Knowing the opinion of the older adults with regard to volunteering and understanding how this prosocial behavior relates to their own well-being is very useful for developing strategic plans that allow future volunteers to be captured.
Highlights
Often, old age is still related to unproductivity, dependency, or loss in different areas of life [1,2,3] aspects that project an image of a vulnerable group or social difficulties in older people despite the resources they can contribute to society
Of the different types of volunteering that are contemplated in the Spanish legislation, we have focused on the socio-health sector which includes the following: “The promotion of health, the prevention of illness, health care, rehabilitation and social care aimed at society as a whole or vulnerable groups, and which, through comprehensive and specialized intervention in relation to physical, psychological and social aspects, offers support and guidance to families and those closest to them, improving living conditions” [7] (p. 7)
The focus was on the subjective side of quality of life, which is generally defined as subjective well-being, since our objective is to determine the perceptions, evaluations, and opinions of the older adults themselves regarding volunteering given the scarcity of studies on this subject
Summary
Old age is still related to unproductivity, dependency, or loss in different areas of life [1,2,3] aspects that project an image of a vulnerable group or social difficulties in older people despite the resources they can contribute to society. The concept of productive aging is taken as a basis for understanding the role volunteering can play in older people’s well-being, understanding volunteering as referring “to a wide range of activities including mainstream forms of mutual support and self-help, formal service provision and other forms of civic engagement, done voluntarily, for the benefit of society as a whole and without economic retribution being the main motivating factor” [6] Of the different types of volunteering that are contemplated in the Spanish legislation, we have focused on the socio-health sector which includes the following: “The promotion of health, the prevention of illness, health care, rehabilitation and social care aimed at society as a whole or vulnerable groups, and which, through comprehensive and specialized intervention in relation to physical, psychological and social aspects, offers support and guidance to families and those closest to them, improving living conditions” [7]
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