Social Inclusion and Communality of Volunteering: A Focus Group Study of Older People's Experiences.

Int J Environ Res Public Health

Unit of Continuous Learning, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, 70210 Kuopio, Finland.

Published: April 2022

The aim of this qualitative study was to describe the factors that motivate older people to volunteer and how volunteering influences their social inclusion and communality. Data were collected using focus group interviews in 2020-2021 from older people aged 65-81 years ( = 38) who had experience of volunteering in the community. The data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Based on the results, the experiences described by older people who participate in volunteering consisted of factors encouraging older people to volunteer and depended on the activation, support, and motivation of volunteer operators. The support provided by the health care services and volunteer action organization for volunteers was a key factor in encouraging older people to participate in volunteering. Moreover, volunteering impacted the communality of volunteers in several ways, influencing social capital. The sense of communality was enhanced by the way in which volunteering was carried out, including collaboration with health care services and associations. In order to strengthen the importance of volunteering in society, there is a need for close collaboration between voluntary organizations and health care service providers to develop volunteering because health care organizations cannot respond to all of the challenges faced by the ageing population.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9103720PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095141DOI Listing

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