Promoting Volunteer Capacity in Hospice Palliative Care

Abstract

Hospice volunteers play an essential role in the primary care network for end of life. The purpose of this review was to examine the evidence on hospice volunteers published between 2002 and July 2012. An electronic search of PubMed, CINAHL and PsychINFO using controlled vocabulary, and a reference scan, yielded 54 studies focusing on hospice volunteers. Studies were primarily descriptive using quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. Findings from studies were grouped thematically into descriptions of the work of hospice volunteers; recruitment, preparation and retention of hospice volunteers; and perspectives and outcomes of the volunteer role. A substantial body of evidence exists describing the roles, stresses and rewards of hospice volunteering. Less is known about how to adequately recruit, prepare and retain volunteers. A small but intriguing body of evidence exists around volunteers' contributions to family satisfaction and patient longevity. Although the evidence around hospice volunteers continues to grow, there is an urgent need for further research. Findings indicate that volunteers make important contributions to high quality end of life care. However, more focused research attention is required to better understand how to maximize this contribution while providing better support for volunteers.

Volunteer navigation partnerships: Piloting a compassionate community approach to early palliative care

“…Volunteers play a vital role in palliative care through support, advocacy, and caregiver respite [1] in a variety of settings, including residential care, hospital, and home. The importance of their role is magnified in rural areas where healthcare resources are limited [2–4], and in the context of an aging population where early support [5], provided at home [6], is the optimal standard of care.…”

“…The importance of their role is magnified in rural areas where healthcare resources are limited [2–4], and in the context of an aging population where early support [5], provided at home [6], is the optimal standard of care. Although research on volunteers is in a nascent stage, there is accumulating evidence of the benefits of volunteers for palliative patients and their families [1, 7, 8]. …”

How effective are volunteers at supporting people in their last year of life? A pragmatic randomised wait-list trial in palliative care (ELSA)

“…Previous studies of volunteer-provided services in the last year of life have been descriptive, addressing issues such as patient and volunteer experience, acceptability, facilitators and barriers [10, 11, 16, 17, 19, 41–43]. These studies have shown that volunteer provided services are seen as complementary to clinical services, and their intuitive appeal means that services are currently recommended and increasingly commonly provided by those providing a range of end-of-life care services [14].…”

Does involving volunteers in the provision of palliative care make a difference to patient and family wellbeing? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence

“…Existing reviews take a broader or a different focus on the literature (Morris et al, 2013;Pesut et al, 2012;Wilson et al, 2005). For example, consideration of the evidence in regards to practice and organisation (Morris et al, 2013), and these reviews lack methodological inclusion criteria and quality assessment of included studies.…”