[Voluntary work, demographic, social and economic features and health self-perception by elderly people from Porto Alegre (Brazil)].
The objective of this cross-sectional, comparative study was to describe the demographic, socioeconomic and health characteristics of elderly voluntary workers of a Non-governmental organization of Porto Alegre, and investigate the influence of voluntary work and the referred characteristics on the subjects' self-perception of health, compared to a paired group of elderly individuals who did not perform any voluntary work. Through interviews it was found that 87.4% of the elderly voluntary workers were women, with complete secondary education, had their own income and followed a religion and a healthy lifestyle. The comparison of data from both groups showed that self-perception of great health was more common among voluntary workers (30.5% compared to 6.1%, p = 0.054). Multivariate analysis revealed that performing voluntary work and having fewer diseases influenced the individuals' having a positive self-perception of their health (p < 0.05). Study results support the hypothesis that voluntary work may be a mechanism of health promotion among the elderly.
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. luccasms@gmail.com
Luccas Melo
LM
de Souza
Liana
L
Lautert
Eunice Fabiani
EF
Hilleshein
D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014838:Volunteers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*