Aim: To explore the perspectives of volunteers involved in a UK-based palliative care day services and identify the important outcomes of day services for themselves, patients and carers.
Method: Focus groups were carried out with volunteers in four palliative care day units. Volunteers were purposively sampled to represent their role within the day unit. In these groups, volunteers discussed the following: the positive and negative aspects of their role and the benefits and disadvantages of day services offered. These focus groups were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim and analysed using in-depth thematic analysis.
Results: Twenty two volunteers from the four day units participated. The following themes were identified: 1) volunteers wanted to give something back to the community; 2) volunteers enjoyed their roles; 3) volunteers saw day services as being beneficial to patients and carers; 4) some volunteers felt it was an arena in which to develop their skills; 5) volunteers were generally happy about the way their services were organised, although some expressed concerns about future service provision. Other issues that emerged included; 6) some volunteers found it difficult to deal with young or very ill patients; 7) some volunteers identified training issues that they felt needed to be addressed.
Conclusion: Volunteers generally find their experience in day services rewarding and see that they are contributing to improving patients’ quality of life, though there may be some local service issues which present future challenges.