Hospice-Palliative Care Volunteer Retention: Know How to Hold Them (Research)

                           Miss Ruby with Hospice Volunteer Frances Shani Parker

You’re a hospice-palliative care volunteer coordinator with a volunteer quota you’re always striving to maintain. Can secrets to keeping them be found in this research reported in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care?

In this study, the 33-item Volunteer Retention Questionnaire was used to determine what really motivates volunteers to keep doing this work that baffled onlookers often tell us must be depressing. (If they only knew how much we enjoy it!) With responses from 119 hospice-palliative care volunteers from three community-based hospice programs, these were the results of how volunteers rated the importance of items in their decisions to keep on volunteering:

1)   First and foremost, they enjoyed the work itself. (Imagine that!)

2)   They felt adequately prepared/trained to perform their duties. (Coordinators, you’re doing a good job here!)

3)   They learned from their patients’ experiences and from listening to their stories. (Remember listen and learn?)

An interesting result is that being recognized (service pins, newsletters, etc.), volunteer coordinator phone calls and cards, and reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses were among the lowest rated in retention importance. Personally, I think this speaks to the sincere and giving nature of volunteers, but these should still continue on some level. Praise is still a big motivator. 

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback at many booksellers in America and other countries and in e-book form at Amazon and Barnes and Noble booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Hospice-Palliative Care Volunteers: Why They Do It (Research, Video 4:44)

Many people wonder why hospice-palliative care volunteers serve patients who are terminally or chronically ill. Here are some answers researched by the Department of Psychology at Mount Allison University in Canada. Participants in the volunteer research included 41 hospice-palliative care volunteers from community and hospital-based programs. They were asked these questions with the following responses:

1)    What aspects of your work provide you with the most (and least) satisfaction?

In five of the nine programs involved, volunteers said that feeling appreciated by the patients and families they support gave them great satisfaction.

Boundary issues and/or role ambiguities were mentioned among the least satisfying aspects of their work by volunteers in four programs. (Volunteer coordinators should note this as part of ongoing training.)

2)    Why do you continue to volunteer?

Volunteers in all nine programs mentioned that they continue to volunteer because it makes a difference and meets a need in other people's lives.

     3) Why would you stop doing this volunteer work?

Among the reasons given for potentially stopping volunteering were a family crisis, burnout, old age, and other commitments.

Many kinds of activities are available for hospice-palliative care volunteers. Among services needed in addition to direct patient care are opportunities in community education, fundraising, and office work. Potential volunteers should also consider using special talents or unique job skills that they already have. Haircuts @ Home is a volunteer program of San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine. This video titled Haircuts @ Home: San Diego Hospice Volunteer Program features two volunteer hairdressers giving haircuts to hospice patients.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback at many booksellers and in e-book form at Amazon and Barnes and Noble booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Who Wants a Hospice-Palliative Care Volunteer?

Everybody wants a hospice-palliative care volunteer, right? Wrong. I never assumed that patients would always be glad to have me as their hospice volunteer, and it’s a good thing I didn’t. One day I met a patient who made it clear I wasn’t wanted. My book Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes explains what happened. This is how the initial conversation went with a hospice patient named Lelia:

“When I first met her, she was sitting alone in a dimly lit room she shared with three other women. Her blouse was unbuttoned, exposing one sagging brown breast and a wormlike scar where her other breast had been removed. Depression embraced her like a close friend. A wary look in her eyes told me she had no place for a hospice volunteer on her agenda.

“What’s that, you say you a hospice volunteer, and you want to come see me every week? No, I don’t need to see you. I have enough visitors,” Lelia complained shortly after I arrived. Her tone reeked with annoyance at my intrusive presence in her gated world.

“Lelia, I came by to see you today because I hoped we could get to know each other better. I was thinking that I might be able to help you in some way, maybe with a problem or something.”

“No, I got enough help. Like I said, I don’t need to see you. I don’t need to see nobody. I just want to be left alone.”

© Frances Shani Parker

So much for making me feel welcomed. Fortunately, I was able to win Lelia over and have a very interesting relationship with her. Her story is one of my favorites.

What does research say about dying people wanting hospice-palliative care volunteers? According to the “The American Journal of Hospice Palliative Care" research at Mount Allison University yielded the following results using 100 adults:

Participants were asked to imagine they were terminally ill and told about services volunteers could provide. Finally, they were asked if they would want a volunteer and why. Eighty-nine participants wanted a volunteer, mostly for general support and lack of nearby family. What about the other thirty-five? Some sounded just like my patient Lelia by saying they didn’t need help. Other reasons included being private people.

In the total group, sixty-five participants were aware of the volunteer program. Among those who were not aware, 89% expected their family doctor to inform them of the program. These results indicate a need for more patient information regarding the availability of hospice-palliative care volunteers.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog