By Dr. Liji Thomas, MDReviewed by Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc.Jan 24 2025

Research reveals that structured volunteering programs significantly improve social and emotional wellbeing among older adults, highlighting the importance of sustained engagement.

Study: The effects of volunteering on loneliness among lonely older adults: the HEAL-HOA dual randomised controlled trial. Image Credit: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A / Shutterstock.com

A recent study published in The Lancet examines how social volunteering affects the social and emotional aspects of loneliness among older adults in China.

Benefits of volunteering

A volunteer is someone who works for others’ benefit without pay. Previous studies have reported that structured volunteering activities offer short- and long-term benefits in older volunteers as compared to unstructured volunteering. Similarly, another report indicated that among older Americans, those who volunteered 100 or more hours each year were less likely to experience physical limitations or die than non-volunteering older adults.

Despite existing evidence supporting the positive effects of volunteer work on alleviating loneliness in older individuals, no randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been performed to examine this association. Furthermore, there remains a lack of studies investigated the long-term outcomes of volunteering or how the benefits of volunteering can be sustained for extended durations.

About the study

The current RCT was conducted in Hong Kong and included 375 lonely people between 50 and 70 years of age with a median of 64 years. About 83% of the study cohort were over the age of 60 years.

All study participants agreed to receive training in telephone-based volunteering, following which they volunteered for two or more hours every week for six months. All study participants were poor, solitary, felt lonely at baseline, and had no online network.

Study participants studied three or more years in secondary school, reported themselves to be healthy, were unemployed, and had not volunteered more than three times over the past year. The study participants were randomized to a volunteering or control group.

Those who were assigned to the volunteer group received six weeks of psychoeducation training, following which they delivered different interventions to others. More specifically, 56 volunteers coached their clients in mindfulness, 65 in behavioral activation, and 64 befriended their clients.

Volunteering improves loneliness at six months

Six months after training, the reduction in emotional and social aspects of loneliness from the first time point in the volunteering group was greater as compared to the control condition using the DeJong Gierveld (DJG) Loneliness Scale. When the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale was applied, the reduction in loneliness was significant in the volunteer group alone. Notably, the DJG Scale may be more accurate in capturing small changes in emotional and social aspects of loneliness as compared to the UCLA Scale.

After six months, but not 12 months, volunteers experienced increased social support and higher mental wellbeing as compared to the control group. Those in the volunteer group also reported greater life satisfaction and reduced stress, which may be attributed to the new skills these individuals acquired during their training on mindfulness, behavioral activation, and communication-based interventions.

The observed improvements were not sustained at 12 months, as controls, rather than volunteers, reported better social support and mental wellbeing as compared to baseline levels. Stress and anxiety levels were also lower in controls as compared to volunteers at this time point.

These observations may be attributed to restrictions on volunteering during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which prevented most volunteers from meeting volunteering goals.

Continued volunteering

When stratified by continuing level of volunteer participation, 37% and 22% of volunteer and control groups, respectively, reported that they volunteered for a median of two hours each week for the last month at 12 months after initial training. Those who still volunteered for over two hours each week were less lonely than those who stopped volunteering.

These positive effects were stronger in study participants who continued to volunteer for more than two hours every week for extended durations as compared to controls or those who volunteered less than two hours each week. Therefore, engaging in weekly volunteering for at least two hours is essential for sustaining its long-term benefits in reducing loneliness.

Conclusions

The results of the study demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of training older adults as lay counsellors to provide telephone-based loneliness interventions in decreasing their own feelings of loneliness.”

The current study examined the effects of a structured volunteering program on long-term psychosocial wellbeing in older adults catering to other older adults. Older adults who volunteered gained both social and psychological benefits, along with increased life satisfaction and reduced stress levels.

Journal reference:

Yeung, D. Y., Jiang, D., Warner, L. M., et al. (2025). The effects of volunteering on loneliness among lonely older adults: the HEAL-HOA dual randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. doi:10.1016/j.lanhl.2024.100664.