Hos
ted
by:
Volunteering, subjective wellbeing and mental health:
what we know and what we don’t know
Dr. Daiga Kamerāde, Third Sector Research Centre, University of
Birmingham
Why it is important to know?For evidence based-practice and policy:•To motivate, attract and retain volunteers;•To demonstrate the value of volunteering in general or a specific volunteering programme.•To propose and design a policy
Formal voluntary work
Subjective well-being and mental health
Types of evidence
Qualitative studies
Cross-sectional surveys
Longitudinal panel studies
Cohort studies
Randomised controlled
trials
Systematic Reviews
and Meta analyses
How often, for how long, what kind of volunteering, and for whom?
Importance of context and volunteering frequency
Kamerāde, D., Bennett, M. (2015) Unemployment, volunteering and mental health (work in progress)
Sample: 2,449 unemployed in 29 European countries
1)The existing evidence
cannot conclusively support
the claims that volunteering in general
does or does not have
positive (or negative) effects
on subjective wellbeing and mental health
2) No robust evidence of how often, for how
long, what kind of volunteering, for whom
has positive effects on wellbeing and mental
health
Implications for policy and practice• Volunteering as a public well-being and mental health
intervention? – Not enough robust evidence– Robust pilots and their evaluation needed.
• Claims about volunteering:– ‘Volunteering may improve your wellbeing and mental health’ [not
‘boosts, improves, or increases’].– ‘Nearly 60% of 70 volunteers in this volunteering programme reported
improved wellbeing’.
• Evaluations:– If improved wellbeing and mental health are not the key expected
outcome: different research questions and variety of designs;– If SWB and mental health are the key expected outcomes: consider
pragmatic randomised controlled trials.
More information
• Kamerāde, D. (2015) Third sector impact on human resources and community: a critical review. TSRC Working Paper Series No.134. Seventh Framework Programme (grant agreement 613034), European Union. Brussels: Third Sector Impact
• Jenkinson, C., Dickens, A., Jones, K., Thompson-Coon, J., Taylor, R., Rogers, M., et al. (2013). Is volunteering a public health intervention? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the health and survival of volunteers. BMC Public Health, 13(1), 773.