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Objectives: Using the example of older men volunteering on teams that restore historic ships, this article examines the effects of volunteering on the well-being of older adults. We consider particularly how volunteering impacts levels of social engagement and explore how the men’s reminiscences as they bond with their fellows in highly skilled work helps integrate their life experiences. Methods: Data are based on 14 in-depth interviews with volunteers working on historic vessels in Norway. Self-rated health, functional dependency, and well-being measures were collected using semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Volunteering in a context of skilled, group-bonded, culturally prestigious activity adds considerably to social capital among elderly men in Norway. Respondents explain their involvement in terms of prior relationships and current social benefits. They spoke of the value of maintaining past personal connections to a particular ship, shipping company, or local community. These were reinforced by current social benefits, such as the experience of companionship, unity, and the feeling of making an important contribution to the society. The group dynamics and strong collective aspect of these voluntary associations maintains internal cohesion, and members only leave when forced by increasing age, poor health, or insufficient financial resources. Conclusions: This article illuminates a case study of gender-specific engagement of older adults in volunteer roles returning high benefits both to participants and society, and adds knowledge to public-health programs and policies in the volunteer- and cultural-heritage sector.

Utilization of services is an important indicator for estimating access to healthcare. In Norway, the General Practitioner Scheme, a patient list system, was established in 2001 to enable a stable doctor-patient relationship. Although satisfaction with the system is generally high, people often choose a more accessible but inferior solution for routine care: emergency wards. The aim of the article is to investigate contact patterns in primary health care situations for the total population in urban and remote areas of Norway and for major immigrant groups in Oslo. The primary regression model had a cross-sectional study design analyzing 2,609,107 consultations in representative municipalities across Norway, estimating the probability of choosing the emergency ward in substitution to a general practitioner. In a second regression model comprising 625,590 consultations in Oslo, we calculated this likelihood for immigrants from the 14 largest groups. We noted substantial differences in emergency ward utilization between ethnic Norwegians both in rural and remote areas and among the various immigrant groups residing in Oslo. Oslo utilization of emergency ward services for the whole population declined, and so did this use among all immigrant groups after 2009. Other municipalities, while overwhelmingly ethnically Norwegian, showed diverse patterns including an increase in some and a decrease in others, results which we were unable to explain.

Abstract:Objective: In Norway, the General Practitioner Scheme was established in 2001. Satisfaction with the system is generally high. However, people often choose to visit community-based emergency wards (EW) for routine care instead. The aim of this paper is to describe which factors influence the choice of seeking care at the EW. Design, setting, and patients: Prior national research on utilization patterns has been based mostly on surveys showing a low response rate. By using merged register data, we analyzed the choice of the EW as a care provider in Oslo (Norway) for 2006 and 2007. Applying 1,934,248 observations of 279,531 different individuals, we estimated the probability of choosing the emergency ward for the Norwegian-born population as well as for the14-largest immigrant groups. Substantial variation between groups was identified. Main outcome: The proportion of EW visits was highest among patients from Somalia (11.7 percent) while the lowest proportion of EW users was among immigrants from Germany and Vietnam (5.3 percent). The results vary substantially within individual migrant groups; gender, age, and the duration of residence each influence the probability of visiting an EW. Conclusions: We found large differences in the probability of using an EW between individuals from immigrant populations, presumably because of barriers in access to primary care. Continuity in the physician-patient relationship is an important policy goal. A suggestion for policy is thus to improve communication about the organization of the Norwegian health-care sector to newly arrived immigrants, as well as to patients at the EW.