What is the Impact of Volunteers Providing Care and Support for People with Dementia in Acute Hospitals? A Systematic Review

Abstract

A quarter of acute hospital beds are occupied by people with dementia, and a hospital stay may impact negatively on their health and wellbeing. The development and implementation of volunteers to provide social, activity-based, one-to-one support for people with dementia in acute hospitals has become routine practice. However, the evidence to support this practice has not been identified or evaluated. This systematic review considers the effect of volunteers on the care and experience of people with co-morbid cognitive impairment/dementia in acute hospitals. The systematic search identified 444 papers, although only three papers included specific analysis relating to the impact of volunteers. The evidence suggests volunteers may have potential to enhance the experiences of people with dementia in acute hospitals; however, there is currently a marked lack of evidence to support the widespread implementation of volunteers. There is therefore an urgent need for multi-site robust research to provide evidence of the impact of volunteers supporting people with cognitive impairment/dementia during an acute hospital stay.

“They take a lot of pressure off us”: Volunteers reducing staff and family care burden and contributing to quality of care for older patients with cognitive impairment in rural hospitals

“…Staff and family members perceived that the volunteers reduced emotional and physical burden for staff and families, increased patient well‐being and contributed to improved quality of physical and emotional care as unique and well‐linked members of the care team. These findings are consistent with other acute care dementia volunteer studies . The impact and interrelationship of volunteers for patients, family carers and staff is depicted in Figure .…”

“…Although a number of implementation challenges were identified, these were addressed quickly in most instances by the skilful intervention of the project co‐ordinators and did not hinder the program or its outcomes. Similar challenges (eg, initial staff anxiety) have been noted and addressed by sound implementation and communication in previous studies . The volunteer role was described as safe and well delineated from that of paid staff.…”

“…In order to add to the limited evidence on the impact of volunteers in supporting hospitalised patients with cognitive impairment, the current study implemented and evaluated the program in a further seven rural hospitals in Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) using a mixed‐methods design. The quantitative patient outcomes are reported in an article by Blair et al .…”

Combining volunteers and primary care teamwork to support health goals and needs of older adults: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial

“…Each component is supported by evidence of effectiveness. 8,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] However, we are unaware of any initiative that evaluates the integration of program components. As support from health care volunteers is therapeutic to patients, 21 Health TAPESTRY broadened the concept of the health care team to include volunteers who link to primary care in ways comparable to community or lay health worker activities.…”

The Volunteer Dementia and Delirium Care (VDDC)© program: An exploration of perceived barriers and enablers to implementation in an acute and subacute metropolitan hospital

“…Internationally, volunteer programs are utilised to provide person-centred care to patients with dementia and/or delirium. 7 For example, in the United States, the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) and the Fam-HELP program use volunteers and the patients' family members to deliver interventions to prevent the onset of delirium. Volunteers adopt various responsibilities, including ensuring that the patient can see, hear and eat with appropriate aids, orienting the patient and providing companionship.…”