‘Being With You’. Evaluation of a Novel ‘Volunteer Companionship Training Programme’ for Supporting End-of-Life Care Within an Acute Hospital Setting

Abstract

Background Although the value of hospice volunteers is widely recognised, their role within the hospital setting is less established. An end-of-life volunteer companionship programme was established within an UK hospital to help support dying patients and their families ( provision of 'sitting' service and psychological support). Aim To assess the effectiveness of a two-day volunteer training programme. Methods Fifteen hospital volunteers were recruited due to length and experience of service; a further two through personal expressions of interest. A questionnaire (assessing knowledge, confidence about communication and support skills) was given: pre-training; 2 weeks post-training; and 3 months posttraining. Each question (n=17) had 5-point Likert-scale response options (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree). Free text response boxes were provided.Two further cohorts of volunteers have been recruited (total n=30) and additional results are forth-coming. Results From the initial 17 volunteers, 14 were female with ages ranging from 19-70 years. Statistically significant improvements were seen across all knowledge scores post-training and were sustained after 3 months.

Hospice volunteers as facilitators of public engagement in palliative care priority setting research

“…The existing and changing roles of volunteers are currently being explored with the recent formation of a European Association of Palliative Care Task Force on Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care. Hospice volunteers are well placed to facilitate public engagement, which may form part of their varied role across the United Kingdom, 2 Europe 1 and Middle East. 3 Gauging volunteers’ perspectives is essential to ensure that role expectations are acceptable.…”