Volunteerism has been increasingly recognised as a health promotion activity for older adults. However, volunteerism has largely been the domain of those who are in good health with few to no physical limitations, and there is limited information about the experiences of older adults with disabilities. This study explores why older adults with mobility-limiting disabilities engage in volunteer work and their perceptions of the personal benefits of volunteering. Twenty older adults, from three Midwest towns in the United States of America, participated in semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews. Participants in this study identified as having serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs due to a health condition and had volunteered in the last year. Participants were selected purposively for maximum variation in terms of type of disability/impairment, race, gender and age. The constant comparative method of analysis was used to identify themes from their discussions. When asked about why they volunteer and the personal benefits of volunteering, participants discussed seeking out activities that were meaningful to them for both altruistic and more self-directed reasons. They identified a number of physical and emotional health benefits that they saw as directly and indirectly related to being able to participate in these meaningful activities. Findings from this study suggest that, for older adults with disabilities who are interested in volunteer activities, volunteerism can be a beneficial health promotion activity and a potential mechanism for increasing opportunities for meaningful inclusion and participation in their communities.

志愿服务越来越被认为是老年人的健康促进活动。然而，志愿服务主要是那些身体健康、几乎没有身体限制的人的领域，而且关于残疾老年人经历的信息有限。本研究探讨了行动受限的老年人参与志愿工作的原因以及他们对志愿服务的个人利益的看法。来自美利坚合众国中西部三个城镇的 20 名老年人参加了半结构化、深入的面对面访谈。这项研究的参与者确定由于健康状况而在行走或爬楼梯方面存在严重困难，并且在去年自愿参加。参与者是有目的地选择的，以便在残疾/损伤类型、种族、性别和年龄方面有最大的差异。不断的比较分析方法被用来从他们的讨论中确定主题。当被问及他们为什么志愿服务以及志愿服务的个人利益时，参与者讨论了出于无私和更自主的原因寻找对他们有意义的活动。他们确定了一些他们认为与能够参与这些有意义的活动直接和间接相关的身心健康益处。这项研究的结果表明，对于对志愿活动感兴趣的残疾老年人，