Engaging Older Adults in High Impact Volunteering that Enhances Health: Recruitment and Retention in the Experience Corps® Baltimore

Abstract

Engagement in social and generative activities has benefits for the well-being of older adults; hence, methods for broadly engaging them in such activities are desired. Experience Corps Baltimore, a social model for health promotion for older adult volunteers in public schools, offers insight to such successful recruitment and retention. We report on data over a 4-year period in Baltimore City, Maryland, and describe a five-stage screening process implemented to recruit a diverse group of senior volunteers who would remain in the program for at least 1 year. The sample consisted of 443 older adults expressing an interest in and screened for volunteering. Comparisons were made with Chi-square and Fisher's t-test between those who entered the program and those who did not and those who were retained in the program. Gender, race, age group, and prior volunteering were significant in ultimate volunteer service in the schools. Overall, 38% of 443 persons recruited entered the schools; 94% of participants were over 60 years (p = 0.05) with a mean age of 69 years; 90% were women (p = 0.03), and 93% African-American (p = 0.005); 57% had not volunteered in the past year (p = 0.004). Ninety-two percent were retained in the first year; 80% returned a second year. Among the latter, 83% had G12 years of education (p = 0.001). Participants remained in the program for a second year of volunteering regardless of baseline MMSE score, self-reported health, and motivation for volunteering. In conclusion, it is possible to recruit and retain a diverse pool of older adults to participate in a high-intensity volunteer program, including nontraditional volunteers. Of special note is the success in recruiting African-American women and those with lower education, who may particularly benefit from health promotion.

Recruiting and Retaining Older Adults in Volunteer Programs: Best Practices and Next Steps

“…Martinez et al (2006) found that, after the first year of the program, referrals from friends and current volunteers were the best source of recruitment. Tang (2008) found that being asked and seeking out volunteer experiences were the mostly likely ways for older adults to become involved in volunteering.…”

“…Several of the studies indicate that providing opportunities for older adults to participate in activities that are personally meaningful and/or make a difference is an important component in recruiting and retaining older adult volunteers. For example, Martinez et al (2006) suggest that the potential to give back and help children encouraged older adults to engage in volunteer activities. The study by Tang and Morrow-Howell (2008) found that 43% of the volunteers in the study actively sought out volunteer experiences, suggesting that these volunteers were interested in making a meaningful difference in certain areas.…”

“…For example, Martinez et al (2006), found that social interaction was an important reason for volunteering for many older adults in the sample. Similarly, Tang et al (2012) found that, for the African American volunteers in the study, an important reason for seeking out a volunteer experience was to increase their social network.…”

“…For example, several of the studies reviewed earlier include older adults that volunteered with an Experience Corps program (see Table1). Experience Corps programs pair older adults with children in kindergarten through third grade to work on literacy (Martinez et al 2006;McBride et al 2012). Human service professionals could collaborate with volunteers in these types of programs to identify and work towards personal goals that could also enhance their work as a volunteer, such as: improving one's own reading level, developing or improving presentation skills, and exploring creative writing or story telling skills.…”

Potential for Intensive Volunteering to Promote the Health of Older Adults in Fair Health

“…Volunteers, 60 years and older, were actively recruited 33 to the Experience Corps Baltimore. Eligibility criteria included scoring at least 24 on the Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination 34 and/or meeting a threshold score on Trails B, 35 and passing the school system's criminal background check.…”