Active ageing & voluntary work

News
We interviewed 12 older people about their motives to participate in voluntary work, an important determinant for active and healthy ageing. The book ‘Actief oud is Goud: Vrijwilligers in beeld’ was awarded with the SHARE Societal Relevance Award 2020

Elderly people who volunteer do so to help others and to learn something new themselves. By taking this into account when recruiting volunteering, organisations can promote participation in volunteering among older people. This is the conclusion of UMCG researcher Jacobien Niebuur in her dissertation on participation in voluntary work in the Netherlands. Niebuur will defend her research at the University of Groningen on 12 October.

Volunteering is good for the health of the volunteer, and people who volunteer grow old healthier and live longer, on average, according to previous research. But who does volunteer work, and why? And how can we encourage people to do volunteer work? PhD student Jacobien Niebuur conducted research into this.

You can buy this (in Dutch) book: Stichting Onderzoek Actief Oud