The Mediating and Moderating Effect of Volunteering on Pain and Depression, Life Purpose, Well-Being, and Physical Activity.
Elizabeth Salt, Leslie J Crofford, Suzanne Segerstrom
PMID 28601476WHAT IT FOUND
In older women, more volunteering was linked to less depression and higher life purpose.
The study did not show volunteering reduced pain or caused improvement.
Key findings
01Older women with more pain and more depression reported less volunteering, lower well-being, and lower life purpose, while more physical activity was linked to more volunteering and higher well-being.
02Volunteering partly explained the link between a combined pain score or worst pain and depression only after the researchers adjusted for skewed pain and depression scores; it did not explain links between pain and well-being, physical activity, or life purpose.
03Volunteering changed the link between pain and life purpose only after the researchers adjusted for skewed pain and depression scores, with higher combined pain linked to lower life purpose at volunteering scores of 1.55 or lower and higher worst pain linked to lower life purpose at volunteering scores of 1.46 or lower; it did not change links between pain and depression, physical activity, or well-being.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that pain changes volunteering or that volunteering changes pain, depression, well-being, life purpose, or physical activity. The sample was older, mostly Caucasian, and recruited from one region, so results may not apply to other groups. Fifty-four percent of participants reported no pain, so the findings are not limited to people with chronic pain. Volunteering was measured by two yes/no items and physical activity by self-report, which may not capture real amount or type of activity. People with serious medical, psychiatric, mobility, or corticosteroid-related conditions were excluded, so results may not apply to more medically complex patients. Key mediation and moderation results appeared only after skewed pain and depression scores were adjusted, not in unadjusted analyses.
Declared interests
The supplied metadata lists NIH extramural research support. The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest or sponsor involvement in study design or manuscript writing.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that volunteering treats pain or depression. The study was observational, did not assign participants to volunteer, and only reported associations, so it cannot show that volunteering reduced pain or improved outcomes.