Understanding how volunteer companionship impacts those during the end of life: A realist evaluation
Downey, John, Cooper, Susan, Bassett, Lynn, Dubeibe Fong, Alejandra, Doherty, Margaret and Cornwall, Jon (2024) Understanding how volunteer companionship impacts those during the end of life: A realist evaluation. Death Studies. pp. 1-10. ISSN 1091-7683
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Abstract
Volunteers are a popular unpaid support role in end of life care yet how accompaniment influences the dying is underdeveloped. This study examined how companionship works, for whom, in what circumstances and why. Initial realist ideas were developed through participant observation (14 months), document analysis, and realist interviews with companionship trainers (n = 6). Theory testing involved volunteer interviews (n = 7), accounts from the dying, proxy accounts for the dying, and written reflections from companionship training. Companionship helps people live well until they die, prepare for death, and experience a good death. Four areas of volunteering explain these outcomes namely a loving friend, a holistic presence, a non-judgmental intermediary, and wrap around care. The four areas activate mechanisms related to reminiscing, preserving dignity/personhood, and easing suffering, contingent on specific contexts. The findings unpack how volunteering exerts its influence and what contextual factors facilitate outcomes, advancing the knowledge in this area.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | ** Article version: VoR ** From Crossref journal articles via Jisc Publications Router ** History: epub 04-04-2024; issued 04-04-2024; published 04-04-2024. ** Licence for VoR version of this article starting on 04-04-2024: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous), Clinical Psychology, Developmental and Educational Psychology |
| SWORD Depositor: | JISCRouter |
| Depositing User: | JISCRouter |
| Date Deposited: | 01 May 2024 10:07 |
| Last Modified: | 01 May 2024 10:07 |
| URI: | https://marjon.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/17827 |
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