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.