ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2026
Meaningful voluntary work design and dual pathways for healthy aging (MVP-HA): a cross-sectional and mixed-methods study in Hong Kong.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesVolunteering supports healthy aging. However, research has largely examined its health benefits rather than how volunteer work design shapes healthy aging. This study introduces and validates the meaningful voluntary work design and dual pathways for healthy aging (MVP-HA) framework, exploring how volunteer work characteristics (VWCs) relate to subjective well-being (SWB) and cognition via two pathways: quality (role engagement) and quantity (volunteering hours) of volunteering. It also assesses whether sociodemographic factors moderate these relationships.
methodsUsing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, cross-sectional data were collected from 457 adults aged 60+ in Hong Kong (2023-2024), in addition to seven focus groups involving 46 older adults. VWCs (e.g., skill variety, task significance, feedback, social support, and recognition) were measured using the adapted Work Design Questionnaire.
resultsPath analysis revealed that recognition (β = 0.22, p < .001) and social support (β = 0.14, p < .05) were positively associated with SWB, whereas VWC did not directly relate to cognition. Task significance, social support, and recognition influenced SWB via role engagement, whereas volunteering hours mediated associations between skill variety, feedback, and recognition, and cognition. Age, gender, education, and income moderated these mediating effects. Qualitative findings contextualized meaningful VWCs in late-life volunteering, including emotional task meaningfulness, prosocial vitality growth, co-productive ownership, social support, and organizational recognition. DISCUSSION: Our findings advance literature by showing that health benefits require intentional role design and vary across sociodemographic contexts. Our framework offers policy implications for optimizing the design of volunteering for healthy aging.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.