Hospice volunteers: bridging the gap to the community?

Abstract

Current demographic, policy and management changes are a challenge to hospices to develop their volunteering practices. The study upon which this paper is based aimed to explore good practice in volunteer involvement and identify ways of improving care through developing volunteering. The project consisted of a narrative literature review; a survey of volunteer managers; and organisational case studies selected through purposive diversity sampling criteria. A total of 205 staff, volunteers, patients and relatives were interviewed across 11 sites in England in 2012. This article focuses on one of the findings – the place that volunteers occupy between the hospice and the community beyond its walls. External changes and pressures in society were impacting on volunteer management, but were viewed as requiring a careful balancing act to retain the ‘spirit’ of the hospice philosophy. Honouring the developmental history of the hospice was vital to many respondents, but viewed less positively by those who wished to modernise. Hospices tend to be somewhat secluded organisations in Britain, and external links and networks were mostly within the end‐of‐life care arena, with few referring to the wider volunteering and community fields. Volunteers were seen as an informal and symbolic ‘link’ to the local community, both in terms of their ‘normalising’ roles in the hospice and as providing a two‐way flow of information with the external environment where knowledge of hospice activities remains poor. The diversity of the community is not fully represented among hospice volunteers. A few hospices had deliberately tried to forge stronger interfaces with their localities, but these ventures were often controversial. The evidence suggests that there is substantial scope for hospices to develop the strategic aspects of volunteering through greater community engagement and involvement and by increasing diversity and exploiting volunteers' ‘boundary’ position more systematically to educate, recruit and raise awareness.

The involvement of volunteers in palliative care and their collaboration with healthcare professionals: A cross‐sectional volunteer survey across the Flemish healthcare system (Belgium)

“…Several studies have explored volunteer task performance, training, motivation, economic value and turnover rates (Burbeck et al, 2014;Claxton-Oldfield & Claxton-Oldfield, 2012;Morris, Payne, Ockenden, & Hill, 2017;Morris et al, 2013;Vanderstichelen, Houttekier, et al, 2018). However, with exception of a few studies that consider volunteer involvement -conceptualised mainly as volunteer presence -in palliative care (Candy, France, Low, & Sampson, 2015;Vanderstichelen, Cohen, Van Wesemael, Deliens, & Chambaere, 2019c) and volunteerprofessional collaboration in palliative care (Meyer, Schmidt, Zernikow, & Wager, 2018;Vanderstichelen, Cohen, Van Wesemael, Deliens, & Chambaere, 2019a;Wittenberg-Lyles, Parker Oliver, Demiris, & Regehr, 2010), the literature hitherto lacks insights into the wide variation of volunteers active in palliative care and into how volunteers are integrated into health services and care provision.…”

Volunteer involvement in the organisation of palliative care: A survey study of the healthcare system in Flanders and Dutch-speaking Brussels, Belgium

“…It represents an interdisciplinary approach in various settings and from various care professionals and encompasses in its scope the person who is dying, those close to them and the community they live in. Volunteers played a major role in the early days of palliative care and continued to be involved in its provision, both in the community and in institutional settings (Abel, 1986;Bruera, Higginson, Ripamonti, & von Gunten, 2006;Morris, Payne, Ockenden, & Hill, 2015;Morris, Wilmot, Hill, Ockenden, & Payne, 2012). They may take up several roles ranging from administrative and fundraising to providing companionship and support (Emanuel et al, 1999;Handy & Srinivasan, 2004;Wilson et al, 2005), and can positively influence the quality of care for both terminally ill people and those close to them by reducing stress and offering practical and emotional support and providing a link to the community (Block et al, 2010;Burbeck et al, 2014;Luijkx & Schols, 2009;McKee, Kelley, Gulrguis-Younger, MacLean, & Nadin, 2010;Morris et al, 2012).…”

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“…In opposition, formal volunteering "entails structured service offered to an organization, often within the public domain" (Shandra, 2017, p. 2) and is defined as "any contribution in unpaid time to the activities of formal organizations" (Selbee, 2000, p. 3) or as "unpaid work that benefits others to whom one owes no obligation via an organisation that supports volunteering in health and social care" (Morris, Payne, Ockenden & Hill, 2017). Howard (2013) suggests that senior citizens often face challenges related to deteriorating physical and mental health, and the quality of their lives may suffer as a result and also suggests that volunteering can improve the health (see also Tomioka, Kurumatani & Hosoi, 2017;O'Reilly, Rosato, Moriarty & Leavey, 2017) and quality of life for seniors.…”