Seraphim
05-18-2004, 07:47 AM
By Alison McCook
NEW YORK (******* Health) - Despite the rewards that often come with volunteering, donating your time and energy to projects may be also be bad for your health, new study findings suggest.
A team of Australian investigators found that people who participate in voluntary associations, groups, clubs, organizations and societies tend to have worse physical health than people who don't volunteer their time.
During interviews, people noted that they believed their health had been negatively affected by a number of elements associated with volunteering, including witnessing difficult and depressing situations, observing conflict and pushing themselves to do too much.
These findings suggest that some volunteers may need to monitor how donating their time and energy impacts their health, study co-author Dr. Anna M. Ziersch told ******* Health.
Volunteers may "need to make adjustments if they feel their health is being compromised," Ziersch said. For example, they may need to "seek support, reduce the extent of involvement, drop a particular responsibility, or where necessary, cease their involvement entirely."
However, she cautioned that many people get a lot out of volunteering, and these results are not meant to discourage anyone from pitching in whenever possible. Just do so within reasonable limits, she noted.
"Like any area of our lives we need to make sure we don't overdo things," Ziersch said.
To investigate how volunteering impacts health, Ziersch and her colleague, F. E. Baum, both from Flinders University in Adelaide, reviewed the responses of 530 adults who completed questionnaires on volunteer habits and physical health. The researchers also conducted interviews with 16 respondents.
More than half of respondents said they had volunteered over the past year. Activities included sports and recreation groups, hobby groups, community groups and social action groups, according to the report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Although being involved in volunteering was linked to poorer physical health, Ziersch cautioned that it is not clear which came first, and people in bad health may be less likely to work and therefore have more time to volunteer.
Regardless, she added that it is the responsibility of volunteer organizations to monitor the health of their members, and make sure they are adequately supported and trained to handle difficult situations.
"It is important for groups to manage the workload for their members and for members to support one another," she said. "Groups should also be realistic in what they think they can achieve."
SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, June 2004.
NEW YORK (******* Health) - Despite the rewards that often come with volunteering, donating your time and energy to projects may be also be bad for your health, new study findings suggest.
A team of Australian investigators found that people who participate in voluntary associations, groups, clubs, organizations and societies tend to have worse physical health than people who don't volunteer their time.
During interviews, people noted that they believed their health had been negatively affected by a number of elements associated with volunteering, including witnessing difficult and depressing situations, observing conflict and pushing themselves to do too much.
These findings suggest that some volunteers may need to monitor how donating their time and energy impacts their health, study co-author Dr. Anna M. Ziersch told ******* Health.
Volunteers may "need to make adjustments if they feel their health is being compromised," Ziersch said. For example, they may need to "seek support, reduce the extent of involvement, drop a particular responsibility, or where necessary, cease their involvement entirely."
However, she cautioned that many people get a lot out of volunteering, and these results are not meant to discourage anyone from pitching in whenever possible. Just do so within reasonable limits, she noted.
"Like any area of our lives we need to make sure we don't overdo things," Ziersch said.
To investigate how volunteering impacts health, Ziersch and her colleague, F. E. Baum, both from Flinders University in Adelaide, reviewed the responses of 530 adults who completed questionnaires on volunteer habits and physical health. The researchers also conducted interviews with 16 respondents.
More than half of respondents said they had volunteered over the past year. Activities included sports and recreation groups, hobby groups, community groups and social action groups, according to the report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Although being involved in volunteering was linked to poorer physical health, Ziersch cautioned that it is not clear which came first, and people in bad health may be less likely to work and therefore have more time to volunteer.
Regardless, she added that it is the responsibility of volunteer organizations to monitor the health of their members, and make sure they are adequately supported and trained to handle difficult situations.
"It is important for groups to manage the workload for their members and for members to support one another," she said. "Groups should also be realistic in what they think they can achieve."
SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, June 2004.