Elderly volunteers: Reasons for initiating and terminating service

The effective use of elderly volunteers will be important to the profession of social work in the future. With our aging society, there will be more older Americans in need of services and more older volunteers available to help. This study seeks to advance knowledge about recruiting and maintaining elderly volunteers by interviewing 83 older adults participating in a self-help program in St. Louis. It was found that female volunteers give a two-part response when asked why they volunteer - an altruistic part and a social part. They want to help others, but at the same time, they want to meet some of their own social needs. Male volunteers give only altruistic reasons, and this is explained by comparing different levels of informal support between elderly females and elderly males in the sample. It was hypothesized that volunteers quit when their original motivations for volunteering are not satisfied. In this sample, the major reasons for quitting related to their inability to help as much as they thought they could. Suggestions for improving this situation are discussed.