BMC Palliative Care (Apr 2024)

Facilitators and barriers of implementing end-of-life care volunteering in a hospital in five European countries: the iLIVE study

  • Berivan Yildiz,
  • Agnes van der Heide,
  • Misa Bakan,
  • Grethe Skorpen Iversen,
  • Dagny Faksvåg Haugen,
  • Tamsin McGlinchey,
  • Ruthmarijke Smeding,
  • John Ellershaw,
  • Claudia Fischer,
  • Judit Simon,
  • Eva Vibora-Martin,
  • Inmaculada Ruiz-Torreras,
  • Anne Goossensen,
  • the iLIVE consortium

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-024-01423-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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Abstract Background End-of-life (EoL) care volunteers in hospitals are a novel approach to support patients and their close ones. The iLIVE Volunteer Study supported hospital volunteer coordinators from five European countries to design and implement an EoL care volunteer service on general wards in their hospitals. This study aimed to identify and explore barriers and facilitators to the implementation of EoL care volunteer services in the five hospitals. Methods Volunteer coordinators (VCs) from the Netherlands (NL), Norway (NO), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES) and United Kingdom (UK) participated in a focus group interview and subsequent in-depth one-to-one interviews. A theory-inspired framework based on the five domains of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was used for data collection and analysis. Results from the focus group were depicted in radar charts per hospital. Results Barriers across all hospitals were the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the implementation process, and the lack of recognition of the added value of EoL care volunteers by hospital staff. Site-specific barriers were struggles with promoting the service in a highly structured setting with many stakeholders (NL), negative views among nurses on hospital volunteering (NL, NO), a lack of support from healthcare professionals and the management (SI, ES), and uncertainty about their role in implementation among VCs (ES). Site-specific facilitators were training of volunteers (NO, SI, NL), involving volunteers in promoting the service (NO), and education and awareness for healthcare professionals about the role and boundaries of volunteers (UK). Conclusion Establishing a comprehensive EoL care volunteer service for patients in non-specialist palliative care wards involves multiple considerations including training, creating awareness and ensuring management support. Implementation requires involvement of stakeholders in a way that enables medical EoL care and volunteering to co-exist. Further research is needed to explore how trust and equal partnerships between volunteers and professional staff can be built and sustained. Trial registration NCT04678310. Registered 21/12/2020.

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