Co-production between long-term care units and voluntary organisations in Norwegian municipalities: a theoretical discussion and empirical analysis

Abstract

Background: In Norway, due to demographic challenges with an ageing population and lower fertility rates, current government policies have encouraged municipalities and volunteers to collaborate. Moreover, present policies recommend an increase in volunteer activities within care services. Co-production is advocated as a functional and innovative method of activating resources when citizens and public employees interact in the care sector. Method: This study has scrutinised ongoing volunteer activities in nursing homes and home care facilities by utilising the results from a survey targeting employees in public care services. Aim: The aim has been to identify the extent to which long-term care units (LTC units) in Norwegian municipalities and voluntary organisations collaborate in the coordination of volunteer activities at the local level by answering the following research questions: when LTC units and voluntary organisations collaborate in coordinating voluntary activities within caring services: are they sharing tasks, dividing the tasks between them or both? Findings: The results show that LTC units often coordinate volunteer activities that correspond to statutory public care services. Additionally, LTC units also contribute considerably in coordinating other volunteer activities, either alone or to a small extent in collaboration with voluntary organisations. This limited task sharing when coordinating volunteer activities in municipal care services can be seen as a suboptimal way of using the resources. Hence, a large part of this paper concerns a discussion of the theory of co-production in public care services, drawing on the findings of the survey.

Exploring aspects of significance when arranging dog visits to home-dwelling patients: An action research approach

“…The importance of clarifying roles has also been recognized in other studies. 9,11,25 One of the challenges that was initially raised in this action research project was that the nurses, due to capacity issues, could not commit to assist in conducting dog visits. Nevertheless, nurses still had to assist some of the volunteers, leading to frustration because of disruptions in their workplan.…”

“…Previous research has highlighted the importance of enthusiasts 34 and having a volunteer coordinator in the care services. 9,11,25 Based on findings from this study, our suggestions for improving dog visit programs to home-dwelling patients would be as follows: 1) do a thorough mapping for appropriate matching of patient preferences and equipages; 2) make a written description of the responsibility and tasks related to the two coordinator roles; 3) have initial and continuous information meetings for the nursing staff and the volunteers; and 4) invite retired nurses to assist visits to the most fragile patients.…”

“…8 There is a need for emphasizing social and cultural activities in home care, 6,7 and municipalities and volunteers are encouraged to collaborate to achieve this goal. 9,10 Volunteering is defined as unpaid efforts that are provided to individuals or groups outside personal networks. 11 The Red Cross is a major player in volunteer work.…”

“…8 There is a need for emphasizing social and cultural activities in home care, 6,7 and municipalities and volunteers are encouraged to collaborate to achieve this goal. 9,10…”

Does context matter? Voluntary work in long-term care

“…How is the bringing in of volunteers to be organised in a field with professional care workers? Studies so far indicate that voluntary work in LTC is offered and organised differently in municipalities (Rønning, 2011a;Solbjør et al, 2014;Andfossen 2020) or between organisations (Greenfield et al, 2016). For example, a survey of recruitment and follow-up of LTC volunteers in Norway found that less than half of the 429 municipalities had any organised activity in recruiting new volunteers in the care sector (Johansen & Lofthus, 2011).…”