Burden experienced by community health volunteers in Taiwan: a survey

Abstract

BackgroundVolunteers in Taiwan complement the delivery of health services by paid health professionals. However, in doing so, community health volunteers experience burdens associated with their activities. The reasons for these burdens and degree to which they are experienced are explored in this paper. Our study adds to international research regarding the burden experienced by volunteers. This project is the first to assess how community health volunteers in Taiwan experience burden.MethodsThe 20 item Burden on Community Health Volunteer (BCHV) instrument, specifically designed for this project, was administered to 435 volunteers attached to Community Health Promotion Development Centres in northern Taiwan.ResultsThe overall burden experienced by volunteers is relatively low. However, a multivariate adjusted regression analysis revealed significant differences in volunteer burden depending on the number of people each volunteer served on average per week, as well as the volunteer’s marital status and their perceptions about personal health. Volunteers who served many people and who perceived their own health as poor experienced a higher level of burden. Those who were a widow or a widower felt less burdened than others.ConclusionsThe results of the study identify areas where burden is high and where strategies can be developed to reduce the level of burden experienced by community health volunteers in Taiwan. Community health volunteers in Taiwan complement the role of nurses and other health care providers so their retention is important to ongoing service delivery.

Who is a community health worker? – a systematic review of definitions

“…The included papers suggest that CHWs also have a role in helping to collect and report, via existing mechanisms, information on the health status of the community members [ 30 , 59 , 93 , 97 ].…”

“…Some CHWs perform their tasks as unpaid volunteers [ 18 , 22 , 89 , 90 , 97 , 103 , 108 , 116 , 128 ]. Other CHWs are paid an allowance [ 19 , 21 , 49 , 94 , 99 ], performance-based incentives [ 35 , 92 ], or a formal salary [ 27 , 29 , 39 , 46 , 93 , 126 ] ( Table 3 ).…”

“…The service recipients of CHWs tend to vary with country income status (Supplemental File 3). In high-income countries, CHWs provide health services to ethnic minority and low-income populations within these countries [ 21 , 23 , 33 , 41 , 42 , 45 , 47 – 50 , 56 – 60 , 62 , 63 , 74 – 80 , 84 – 86 , 97 , 101 , 107 , 108 , 110 , 113 , 115 , 118 – 120 , 123 ]. The service recipients in these settings are usually individuals with non-communicable diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes [ 23 , 24 , 31 , 33 , 41 , 47 – 49 , 56 , 58 , 63 , 73 , 77 , 80 , 85 , 96 , 100 , 101 , 106 , 109 , 112 , 113 , 115 – 117 , 120 ].…”

The effect of an organizational level participatory intervention in secondary vocational education on work-related health outcomes: results of a controlled trial

“…The study has been approved by TNO’s Review Committee Participants in Experiments (RCPE), an internal ethics committee that assesses ethical aspects of working with participants in experiments. The RCPE advised positively on the study to the responsible manager since the committee perceived “the information to be complete, participants can join voluntarily and an informed consent is provided” [ 33 ]. The manager decided to follow the RCPE’s approval by permitting the study.…”

“…With an expected loss to follow-up of 35% over 24 months, a total sample size of 600 was needed at baseline. The sample size calculation has been described extensively elsewhere [ 33 ].…”