QUADERNI EUROPEI SUL NUOVO WELFARE

7. Conclusioni

Alla luce di quanto emerso, il profilo tipico del volontario over 65 è quello di un anziano “giovane”, sposato e in buona salute, con un elevato livello di istruzione e di status socio-economico. Tra le motivazioni che lo spingono a fare volontariato prevalgono quelle altruistiche, sebbene sia stato sottolineato che l’aiutare gli altri non possa essere considerata una ragione esclusivamente altruistica (Petriwskyj e Warburton, 2007).

I volontari anziani sono presenti soprattutto nelle organizzazioni religiose e attivi nei servizi alla persona, almeno per quanto riguarda l’Europa Meridionale (Leonard e Johansson, 2008), dove si impegnano in genere per lunghi periodi di tempo. I principali ostacoli alla loro partecipazione sono costituiti da pratiche discriminatorie legate all’età, che impediscono a molti anziani di diventare o restare volontari.

La relazione tra volontariato e lavoro è positiva negli Stati Uniti, dove sono attivi numerosi programmi di volontariato per dipendenti ad opera delle aziende nell’ambito della Responsabilità Sociale d’Impresa. Nel contesto europeo, invece, sono disponibili scarse evidenze sull’argomento, sebbene in Europa la percentuale di anziani sul totale della popolazione sia superiore che negli Stati Uniti. Altrettanto limitate sono le evidenze sulla relazione tra volontariato e attività di cura informali, anche se questa sembra positiva in Europa e negativa negli altri contesti.

Per spiegare le differenze esistenti tra i vari Paesi (europei e non) nell’ambito del reclutamento degli anziani, è anche possibile riferirsi ai diversi regimi di welfare esistenti (Warburton e Jeppsson-Grassman, in press), ma in ogni caso i Paesi europei potrebbero sicuramente avvantaggiarsi maggiormente delle esperienze sviluppate in altri continenti, come del resto sta accadendo nel caso del programma Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (nato negli Stati Uniti ed ora presente anche nel Regno Unito) e del progetto Legacy Leadership Institute, esportato dagli Stati Uniti nei Paesi Bassi, in Germania e in Belgio (Harlow-Rosentraub et al., 2007). La carenza di informazioni sull’argomento in Europa mostra quanto siano urgenti e necessari ulteriori studi comparativi per verificare quanto e come le esperienze extraeuropee possano essere compatibili con il contesto europeo.

 

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