Training and supportive programs for palliative care volunteers in community settings

Horey, Dell; Street, Annette; O'Connor, Margaret Mary; Peters, Louise Audrey; Lee, Susan

doi:10.1002/14651858.cd009500

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The first is care provision, that is, the performance of care and care‐related tasks for patients, their relatives, and other caregivers. Volunteers perform a range of care and care‐related tasks (Burbeck et al., ; Emanuel et al., ; Wilson et al., ) and receive a range of training for this (Horey, Street, O'Connor, Peters, & Lee, ; Wittenberg‐Lyles, Schneider, & Oliver, ; Woitha et al., ). The second is involvement in the organisation of care, that is, having a voice and decision‐rights in the organisation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Vanderstichelen

Cohen

Wesemael³

et al. 2018

Health Soc Care Community

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Ageing populations increasingly face chronic and terminal illnesses, emphasising the importance of palliative care and quality of life for terminally ill people. Facing resource constraints in professional healthcare, some governments expect informal caregivers like volunteers to assume a greater share of care provision. We know volunteers are present in palliative care and perform many roles, ranging from administration to providing companionship. However, we do not know how involved they are in the organisation of care and how healthcare organisations appraise their involvement. To address this, we provide an extensive description of the involvement of volunteers who provide direct patient palliative care across the Flemish healthcare system in Belgium. We conducted a cross‐sectional postal survey of 342 healthcare organisations in Flanders and Brussels in 2016, including full‐population samples of palliative care units, palliative day care centres, palliative home‐care teams, medical oncology departments, sitting services, community home‐care services, and a random sample of nursing homes. Volunteer involvement was measured using Sallnow and Paul's power‐sharing model, which describes five hierarchical levels of engagement, ranging from being informed about the organisation of care to autonomy over certain aspects of care provision. Response was obtained for 254 (79%) organisations. Volunteers were often informed about and consulted regarding the organisation of care, but healthcare organisations did not wish for more autonomous forms of volunteer involvement. Three clusters of volunteer involvement were found: “strong involvement” (31.5%), “restricted involvement” (44%), and “uninvolved” (24.5%). Degree of involvement was found to be positively associated with volunteer training (p < 0.001) and performance of practical (p < 0.001) and psychosocial care tasks (p < 0.001). Dedicated palliative care services displayed a strong degree of volunteer involvement, contrary to generalist palliative care services, suggesting volunteers have a more important position in dedicated palliative care services. A link is found between volunteer involvement, training, and task performance.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Vanderstichelen

Cohen

Wesemael³

et al. 2018

Health Soc Care Community

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“…The reference lists of all included studies were reviewed to identify any relevant papers not captured through electronic searches. A manual search was also conducted on the reference lists of seven relevant, published systematic reviews (Baczynska et al, ; Edwards, Carrier, & Hopkinson, ; Ellis, Mant, Langhorne, Dennis, & Winner, ; Green, Martin, Roberts, & Sayer, ; Horey, Street, O’Connor, Peters, & Lee, ; Jenkinson et al, ; Tassone et al, ). The titles and abstracts of citations were reviewed independently and blindly by three reviewers (AC, RS and RG), and a consensus process was then used to determine whether papers were retrieved in full before being appraised independently by two reviewers (AC and RS) for eligibility.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of volunteers’ care and support on the health outcomes of older adults in acute care: A systematic scoping review

Saunders

Seaman

Graham

et al. 2019

Journal of Clinical Nursing

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Aim To examine the available evidence on the effects of care and support provided by volunteers on the health outcomes of older adults in acute care services. Background Acute hospital inpatient populations are becoming older, and this presents the potential for poorer health outcomes. Factors such as chronic health conditions, polypharmacy and cognitive and functional decline are associated with increased risk of health care‐related harm, such as falls, delirium and poor nutrition. To minimise the risk of health care‐related harm, volunteer programmes to support patient care have been established in many hospitals worldwide. Design A systematic scoping review. Methods The review followed the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA‐ScR) (File S1). Nine databases were searched (CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect and JBI) using the following key terms: ‘hospital’, ‘volunteer’, ‘sitter’, ‘acute care’, ‘older adults’, ‘confusion’, ‘dementia’ and ‘frail’. The search was limited to papers written in English and published from 2002–2017. Inclusion criteria were studies involving the use of hospital volunteers in the care or support of older adult patients aged ≥ 65 years, or ≥ 50 years for Indigenous peoples, with chronic health conditions, cognitive impairment and/or physical decline or frailty, within the acute inpatient settings. Results Of the 199 articles identified, 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria were critically appraised for quality, and 12 articles were included in the final review. Conclusions There is evidence that the provision of volunteer care and support with eating and drinking, mobilising and therapeutic activities can impact positively upon patient health outcomes related to nutrition, falls and delirium. Further robust research is needed to determine the impact of volunteers in acute care and the specific care activities that can contribute to the best outcomes for older adults. Relevance to clinical practice Volunteers can play a valuable role in supporting care delivery by nurses and other health professionals in acute care services, and their contribution can improve health outcomes for older adults in this setting.

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