title: The Volunteering-in-Place (VIP) Program: Providing meaningful volunteer activity to residents in assisted living with mild cognitive impairment.
abstract: The Volunteering-in-Place (VIP) Program was developed to provide individualized meaningful volunteer activities matched to interests and capabilities for older adults with MCI in assisted living. The purposes of this single-site pre-test/post-test pilot study were to (1) establish feasibility of the VIP Program based on treatment fidelity (design, treatment, delivery, enactment); and (2) evaluate preliminary efficacy via improvement in psychological health (depressive symptoms, usefulness, purpose, resilience, and life satisfaction) and decreased sedentary activity (survey and Fitbit) at 3 and 6 months. Ten residents participated. The majority was white, female and educated, and on average 88 years old. The VIP Program was feasible and most participants continued to volunteer at 6 months. There were non-significant improvements in depressive symptoms, usefulness, purpose, resilience and recreational physical activity. The results of this study provide support for the feasibility of the VIP Program. Further study is necessary to examine efficacy.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Nursing, 655 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: Klinedinst@son.umaryland.edu.
authors.forename: N Jennifer
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Klinedinst
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Nursing, 655 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Resnick
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D040561:Assisted Living Facilities; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000628:therapy*; D003863:Depression / Q000517:prevention & control; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014838:Volunteers / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Assisted living; Meaningful activity; Mild cognitive impairment; Volunteering