The number of people in Singapore aged 55 and above who volunteer has increased, said organisations and experts. In a National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre survey for 2016, published in May 2017, the number of people aged 55 to 64 who volunteer has increased from 18% in 2014 to 20% in 2016. For those aged 65 and older, volunteerism has increase from 9% to 19% over the same period.
RSVP Singapore, an organisation that promotes volunteering among the elderly, said that it has seen a 15% increase in the number of new senior volunteers since 2015. Its executive director, Ms Meng Fong, said that more senior citizens could be volunteering because they realise it is a fruitful way of spending their retirement.
The organisation also supports those who want to volunteer but are not sure how to begin. They help new volunteers through training sessions to better manage expectations and a buddy system to support them through their initial volunteering journey.
National University of Singapore (NUS) sociology professor Daniel Goh also attributes the increase to a “cohort effect”. He explained that as “younger cohorts with more experience in volunteering and a stronger culture of volunteerism age into the senior age bands, they continue to volunteer”. Dr Goh also noted the trend of more middle-aged people volunteering, changing the perception that it is only young people who volunteer.
Associate Professor Tan Ern Ser, a sociologist at NUS, attributed the trend of more seniors volunteering to people being more educated.
Associate Professor Philip Yap, senior consultant and director of the geriatric centre at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, said volunteering could also reap a surprising number of benefits for seniors, as seen from studies in the United States. “The senior volunteers showed improved physical function in strength and energy with better performance in walking speed and stair-climbing. There were also benefits in brain function,” he said.
Volunteering also fulfil the emotional needs of seniors, especially the “need for meaningful occupation, inclusion and a reciprocal relationship of giving and receiving“, said Prof Yap.
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Source: The Straits Times, 31 December 2017