11. Voluntary Caregiving? Constraints and Opportunities for Hospital Volunteers

Courtesy stigma: a hidden health concern among front‐line service providers to sex workers

“…It is noteworthy that all individuals who took part in the interview were women or male‐to‐female transgender. This finding mirrors other estimates that suggest that over three‐quarters of paid and unpaid workers in the non‐profit and care sectors are women (Benoit and Hallgrimsdottir 2011, Federation of Community Social Service Strategic Initiatives Fund [FCSS] 2009a, Mellow 2011, Saunders 2004). The median age of individuals working at PEERS is 44 years (mean = 42), suggesting that the work is predominantly performed by women in the middle years of their paid career.…”

The Role of Volunteers in Enhancing Resident Quality of Life in Long-Term Care: Analyzing Policies that May Enable or Limit this Role

“…Several studies attempt to clarify volunteers' roles vis-à-vis staff and family members. For the most part, this research emphasizes that volunteers tend to excel in relational care rather than taskbased medical care provided by staff (Ducak et al, 2018;Hunter et al, 2020;Manthorpe et al, 2003;Mellow, 2011;Seitz et al, 2016). In the United Kingdom, Hussein and Manthrope (2014) showed that, largely, volunteers did not supplement staff but rather supported LTC residents with counseling, support, advocacy, and advice, which are increasingly out of the purview of paid staff.…”

“…Andfossen (2016) argues that managed volunteers (those screened and trained) in Norway serve a highly organized, "non-personal" role unique from that of family and unmanaged volunteers, which should be better reflected in LTC policy and programming in order to maximize its potential to improve LTC. Some researchers (Candy et al, 2015;Ferrari, 2004;Guirguis-Younger & Grafanaki, 2008;Mellow, 2011) have argued that volunteers' altruistic motivations distinguish volunteers from both staff and family and uniquely situate them to enhance QoL for families, staff, and residents. Mellow (2011) notes that direct service hospital volunteers have more control of their time, so they can engage in affective dimensions of care that is crucial to improving quality of care and dignity in highly regulated care environments.…”

“…Some researchers (Candy et al, 2015;Ferrari, 2004;Guirguis-Younger & Grafanaki, 2008;Mellow, 2011) have argued that volunteers' altruistic motivations distinguish volunteers from both staff and family and uniquely situate them to enhance QoL for families, staff, and residents. Mellow (2011) notes that direct service hospital volunteers have more control of their time, so they can engage in affective dimensions of care that is crucial to improving quality of care and dignity in highly regulated care environments. Guirguis-Younger and Grafanaki (2008) argue that palliative care volunteers play an integral role because they are motivated to share their "emotional resilience" with families and people who are dying.…”

“…Many of these roles are difficult to "train" for or standardize, as they are frequently nuanced and often informed by volunteers' years of lived experience caring for older people (Candy et al, 2015;Mellow, 2011;Weeks et al, 2008). Further, Ferrari (2004) and Funk and Roger (2017) both note that despite trends towards LTC volunteers' routinization and regulation (Candy et al, 2015;Watts, 2012), volunteers seem to value autonomy and control in their activities and may be deterred by heavily formalized volunteer environments.…”