Volunteerism among older adults in Singapore

• Main Authors: TAN, Micah, ORTEGA, John Frederic Pedro, Abdullah, Nur Syafiqah, TADAI, Mindy Eiko, NGU, Rachel Wen Yi
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Volunteerism; philanthropy; mental health; older adults; Singapore; Asian Studies; Gerontology; Social Psychology and Interaction
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/rosa_reports/8; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=rosa_reports
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Volunteerism is recognised as a beneficial activity for individuals for many reasons. Beyond the potential of volunteerism to create new and meaningful communities (Hodge et al., 2013), it offers numerous benefits including improvement to one’s mental health (Willigen, 2000), self-esteem (Russell et al., 2018), and social connectedness (Hodge et al., 2013). Volunteering has also been found to provide a sense of purpose in one’s life (Schwingel et al., 2009). For these reasons and more, voluntary work among older adults may be a meaningful and effective pathway towards successful ageing, particularly for those in retirement. In Singapore, the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), a champion of the City of Good vision, has similarly identified volunteer work as an important and beneficial activity for older adults (NVPC, 2018). This research brief thus seeks to bolster efforts to promote older adult participation in voluntary work by examining some of the key motivations and barriers associated with the uptake of volunteer work by older adults in Singapore.