Not Just Helping: What and How Older Men Learn When They Volunteer

Autor/in	Chen, Li-Kuang
Titel	Not Just Helping: What and How Older Men Learn When They Volunteer
Quelle	In: Educational Gerontology, 42 (2016) 3, S.175-185 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0360-1277
DOI	10.1080/03601277.2015.1085786
Schlagwörter	Educational Gerontology; Older Adults; Adult Learning; Volunteers; Males; Educational Attitudes; Aging (Individuals); Experience; Experiential Learning; Qualitative Research; Semi Structured Interviews; Foreign Countries; Taiwan + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Geragogics; Geragogik; Älterer Erwachsener; Adulte education; Adult training; Erwachsenenbildung; Freiwilliger; Male; Männliches Geschlecht; Educational attitude; Bildungsverhalten; Erziehungseinstellung; Aging; Altern; Erfahrung; Experiental learning; Erfahrungsorientiertes Lernen; Qualitative Forschung; Ausland
Abstract	Participation or active engagement with life is advocated internationally and is the core for successful aging of individuals. Although participating in volunteering has been proven to benefit older adults' health and well-being, men participate less in volunteerism than do women. Experiences are considered the primary resources for adults' growth and learning, yet learning when helping others has been rarely explored. This study provides a new perspective by exploring volunteering as a resource for learning. The purpose of the study was to understand the learning process when older men help others. A total of 17 men aged 60 years and above who had volunteered regularly for at least 2 years were interviewed. Findings, reached by inductive analysis, indicated that these men perceived the learning during volunteering differently from classroom learning. Although learning had not been their intention or focus, the men did develop, in multiple ways, knowledge, skills, and wisdom through volunteering. We concluded that volunteering provides a holistic context with the three attributes of learning: (a) using experience as a foundation; (b) building content that is practical, wide, and diverse; and (c) employing multiple methods and flexibility. Building upon plentiful life experiences, volunteering is a learning context as well as a learning resource for older men, which makes successful aging a reachable aim. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01