Exploring the effects of community-based volunteering to support older adults on volunteers: A mixed methods study in Ontario, Canada

Volunteers support community health worldwide. Volunteers themselves experience positive outcomes. Gaps in the literature include volunteers across the lifespan, and outcomes related to specific program elements. Our objective was to understand how volunteering with a program supporting older adults with health and life goals impacted volunteers. We used a convergent mixed methods design in six sites across Ontario, Canada. Data were collected through focus groups/interviews, volunteer-written narratives, and surveys. Analysis included thematic analysis, descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, and convergence of qualitative and quantitative results. Overall, 23 volunteers participated in focus groups/interviews and 31 completed surveys (11 overlapped). Key qualitative impacts were: opportunity to meet new people, see new places, and learn about the community; planning healthy behaviour change; improved communication and people skills; learning about older adults and their health; feelings of contribution; building or maintaining career skills; and some impacts on emotional or cognitive health. Between baseline and 12-months, vigorous physical activity and quality of life had low-medium increases. These results can help those seeking to build effective volunteer programs in the future. We suggest future evaluations to understand volunteer outcomes should include domains related to volunteerism in general as well as outcomes related to specific program elements.