Hospital Volunteering Experiences Suggest that New Policies are Needed to Promote their Integration in Daily Care: Findings from a Qualitative Study.

To explore Hospital Volunteers' (HVs) motivations and experiences, as well as the strategies they adopt to overcome challenging situations during volunteering and the needs they perceive. Eleven Italian HVs were purposively approached between January and July 2016, using face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the descriptive phenomenological approach. Hospital volunteering emerged as a complex experience characterised by five themes: (a) becoming a volunteer; (b) developing skills; (c) experiencing conflicting emotions; (d) overcoming role difficulties by enacting different resources and strategies; and (e) addressing emerging needs. According to the findings, hospital policies aimed at promoting volunteer integration in daily care are needed and should be based on (a) a shared vision between the hospital and the volunteer associations regarding the HVs' role and skills; (b) the development of integrated models of care combining different workforces (i.e. professionals and volunteer staff); (c) appropriate training of HVs at baseline; (d) individualised continuous education pathways aimed at supporting HVs both emotionally and in the development of the required skills; and (e) tailored education that is directed to health-care staff aimed at helping them to value the service provided by HVs. Raziskovanje motivacije in izkušenj prostovoljcev v bolnišnicah (prostovoljci) ter strategij, ki jih uporabijo za obvladovanje zahtevnih situacij med samim opravljanjem prostovoljnega dela ter potreb, ki jih zaznajo. Med januarjem in julijem leta 2016 je enajst italijanskih prostovoljcev osebno opravljalo namenske polstrukturirane intervjuje. Intervjuji so bili zvočno posneti, dobesedno prepisani in analizirani z uporabo opisnega fenomenološkega pristopa. Opravljanje prostovoljnega dela v bolnišnicah se je izkazalo kot kompleksna izkušnja, opisana s petimi tematikami: a) pristop k prostovoljstvu, b) razvijanje sposobnosti, c) doživljanje nasprotujočih si občutkov, d) premagovanje težav, ki jih prinese ta vloga, z uporabo različnih virov in strategij in e) naslavljanje nastajajočih potreb. Glede na rezultate so bolnišnične politike, usmerjene v promocijo vključevanja prostovoljstva v dnevno oskrbo, potrebne in jih je treba osnovati na podlagi a) skupne vizije med bolnišnico in zvezami prostovoljcev glede vloge in sposobnosti prostovoljcev, b) razvoja integriranega modela oskrbe s povezovanjem različnih delovnih sil (tj. strokovno in prostovoljno osebje), c) ustreznega usposabljanja prostovoljcev v samem izhodišču, d) individualiziranih stalnih izobraževalnih poti, usmerjenih v podpiranje prostovoljcev na čustvenem področju in pri razvoju zahtevanih sposobnosti, in e) izobrazbe po meri, ki je prav tako usmerjena v zdravstveno osebje za pomoč pri vrednotenju storitev, ki jih omogočajo prostovoljci.

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© 2019 Silvia Gonella, Federica Canzan, Enrico Larghero, Elisa Ambrosi, Alvisa Palese, Valerio Dimonte, published by Sciendo.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflicts of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this study.