Centre for Policy on Ageing



Volunteering and health among older people — a review
Author(s)	Jenny Onyx, Jeni Warburton
Journal title	Australasian Journal on Ageing, vol 22.2, June 2003
Pages	pp 65-69
Keywords	Voluntary work [elderly] ; Health [elderly] ; Correlation ; Literature reviews.
Annotation	There is consistent evidence that morbidity rates, functional health indices, self-reported health and life satisfaction are affected by formal and informal volunteering. This literature review notes that some studies suggest that the benefits of volunteering are reciprocal, in that both those who give and those who receive assistance benefit. The evidence is consistent with the proposal that social capital is generated through volunteering. It is likely that the presence of high levels of social capital supports and maintains older people's health, provides informal support in times of sickness and stress, and thus enhances quality of life as well as reducing or delaying the onset of illness and death. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-030822205 A
Classmark	GHH: CC: 49: 64A
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.