Senior Corps Tuesday Talk: Senior Corps Volunteer Research Synthesis - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Senior Corps Tuesday Talk: Senior Corps Volunteer Research Synthesis August 15, 2017 3:30pm ET

Housekeeping • All lines on mute • This session is being recorded • Audio problems? Try calling in. • Video problems? Try disconnecting and reconnecting. • Questions

Our Guests Adrienne DiTommaso Senior Evidence and Data Use Specialist Office of Research and Evaluation CNCS Joseph Breems Policy and Programs Analyst Office of Research and Evaluation CNCS

Agenda • Look at demographic data to get a clearer picture of the average Senior Corps volunteer. • Investigate what typically motivates the average Senior Corps volunteer to serve. • Review psycho social data to understand the health - and wellbeing of the average Senior Corps volunteer.

Research and Data Used • Senior Corps Study: Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions (2014) • First Report of the National Evaluation of RSVP Volunteers (2015) • Senior Corps Longitudinal Study: Impact of Service on Volunteers and Beneficiaries (ongoing)

Who are our volunteers? Volunteer Demographics Data Designed by Freepik

Senior Corps volunteers by state New York, California, Florida, Texas, Michigan and Pennsylvania have the highest percentages of Senior Corp Volunteers among the 50 States and Territories

Current concentration of seniors by state

Growth in number of seniors by state

Age Average age of a Senior Corps volunteer is 73 ; however, median age is younger (appx. 66). Average Age of Senior Corps Volunteers 75 74.13 74 Age in years 73 71.82 71.809 72 71 70 SCP FGP RSVP

Age SCP/FGP All Volunteers versus New Volunteers Average Volunteer Age By Program 73 71.8 71.8 72 71 70 69 68 67 66.1 66.0 66 65 64 63 Full Program All volunteers New Members New volunteers SCP FGP

Gender Across Senior Corps volunteers are overwhelmingly female. Gender Participation By Program 100 90 80 70 Percent 60 50 91 84 40 74 30 20 26 10 16 9 0 SCP FGP RSVP Male Female

Race Significant differences can be seen comparing FGP/SCP to RSVP. Race Distribution by Program 100 87 90 80 70 Percentage 60 45 50 45 41 38 40 30 20 6 6 10 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 1 0 FGP SCP RSVP White AFAM AIAK ASPI Other

Ethnicity Ethnicity These differences carry through when looking at Hispanic/non Hispanic percentages. - Hispanic Origin of Senior Corps Volunteers 96.9 100.0 84.5 90.0 81.9 80.0 70.0 Percentage 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 14.9 20.0 12.6 10.0 3.2 2.9 3.1 0 0.0 SCP FGP RSVP Hispanic Not Hispanic Don't Know

Education Levels More highly educated volunteers trend toward RSVP as opposed to FGP and SCP. Percent of Education Level by Program 100% 90% 80% Percentage 70% RSVP 60% FGP 50% SCP 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Education Levels SCP/FGP All Volunteers versus New Volunteers Education Levels By Program 50 44.0 45 41.4 40 36.4 35 31.6 Percentage 30.7 29.1 30 26.1 25.6 24.0 25 21.3 17.3 20 13.6 13.6 13.3 12.3 15 10.7 10 5 0 Less Than HS Diploma Some BA or Less Than HS Diploma Some BA or HS College Higher HS College Higher All volunteers New volunteers Full Program New Member SCP FGP

Questions/Comments • What questions do you have? • What surprised you? • How does your specific program differ? Why? • What, if anything, would you like to see different?

Why do our volunteers serve? Volunteer Motivations Data Designed by Freepik

Motivation to Volunteer – SCP/FGP Motivation To Volunteer 100 17 90 27 29 33 40 40 80 40 46 49 16 52 70 66 25 60 29 27 50 Percentage 37 29 29 32 40 34 31 29 28 30 24 28 17 18 20 20 30 19 9 16 15 8 14 10 5 8 7 6 12 11 8 3 3 3 7 4 6 5 4 0 Not at all A little Somewhat A lot A great deal

Learning about Service – SCP/FGP The most frequent ways volunteers learned about service opportunities were: • “From a friend” - 65% • “Word of mouth” - 30% • “Printed brochure or poster” - 15% • “Community outreach talks” - 10% • “Church” - 7% FGP more likely “From a friend”; SCP more likely “Word of mouth”

Questions/Comments • What questions do you have? • What surprised you? • How does your specific program differ? Why? • What, if anything, would you like to see different?

How healthy are our volunteers? Volunteer Psycho-Social Data

Fill in the Blank: Volunteering can improve the health of older Americans because…

Life Satisfaction FGP and SCP show strong similarities across most measures. Satisfied With Life as a Whole 50.0 45.6 45.2 45.0 40.0 33.6 33.0 35.0 Percentage 30.0 25.0 19.7 18.6 20.0 15.0 10.0 5.0 1.7 1.6 .5 .4 .0 Not at all satisfied Not very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Very satisfied Completely Satisfied SCP FGP

Life Satisfaction cont. Life Satisfaction By Program 100 15 17 90 33 34 80 70 37 44 60 Percentage 50 45 46 40 30 38 35 20 20 19 10 0 SCP FGP SCP FGP Cross-Sectional- All Volunteers Longitudinal Baseline- New Volunteers Not at all satisfied Not very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Very satisfied Completely Satisfied

Health Status Self Reported Health Status 50 43 43 45 40 35 31 31 Percentage 30 25 20 17 16 15 9 9 10 5 1 1 0 Poor Fair Good Very Good Excellent SCP FGP

Health Status cont. Self Rated Health By Program 100 7 9 9 10 90 80 25 32 31 31 70 60 Percentage 50 44 40 43 43 47 30 20 21 10 17 16 13 0 SCP FGP SCP FGP Cross-Sectional- All Volunteers Longitudinal Baseline- New Volunteers Poor Fair Good Very Good Excellent

Connectivity Again we see the gap between RSVP and SCP/FGP over several measures. There Are People You Feel Close To 100 90 80 80 71 69 70 Percentage 60 50 40 29 27 30 20 15 10 4 2 2 0 Hardly ever or never Some of the time Often SCP FGP RSVP

Companionship Feel That You Lack Companionship 100 90 80 71 70 Percentage 60 47 46 50 44 42 40 30 22 20 11 10 8 10 0 Hardly ever or never Some of the time Often SCP FGP

Self-Efficacy Can do the things that I want to do 70 64 60 50 Percentage 38 38 40 31 31 30 24 20 11 11 8 8 10 7 6 6 6 6 2 2 2 0 Strongly Somewhat Slightly disagree Slightly agree Somewhat Strongly agree disagree disagree agree or SCP FGP RSVP

Highlights from FGP/SCP Longitudinal Study After one year of service with FGP/SCP: • 46% of studied volunteers reported improved health and wellbeing – More than one third who began in “good” health reported improvements • 63% of studied volunteers reported a decrease in feelings of isolation – 67% who began “often” lacking companionship reported improvements • Studied volunteers reported fewer symptoms of depression – 63% who began with three or four symptoms reported fewer – 70% who began with five or more symptoms reported fewer

Questions/Comments • What questions do you have? • What surprised you? • How does your specific program differ? Why? • What, if anything, would you like to see different?