호스피스 자원봉사활동의 실태 및 지원에 관한 연구 - 대전ㆍ충청권을 중심으로

  • Published : 2005.06.01

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the present state, types of services, difficulties, education programs, motivation, satisfaction and attitude of hospice volunteers and also to suggest supporting programs for the volunteer. For these purposes, a questionnaire was distributed among the 200 hospice volunteers in ten hospice organizations in Daejeon and Chungcheong province. In this research, 85.5% of the respondents were women and most of them were housewives in their forties and fifties. The majority of hospice volunteers had an education background of more than high school. Christianity (94%) was the dominant religion of volunteers. Among the service area of the hospice, emotional caring, such as listening closely and establishing empathy were the most frequently done by the respondents and the next one was spiritual care. Hospice volunteers who had started with altruistic motivation show more dynamic activities in emotional, spiritual, physical caring and so on, than those with non-altruistic motivation. Most of the respondents expressed that they felt a hospice volunteer was valuable. However they had a hard time to overcome the sorrow coming from sharing empathy with the dying patients. Those who had started with altruistic motivation usually took part in two times per a week and had more positive attitude. Volunteers who had been working more than five years showed better attitude than those who had been working less than three years. The longer the voluntary services, the more positive attitude experienced by volunteers. Hospice volunteers encountered the most considerable difficulty with lack of background knowledge and their actual capability. Insufficiency of time was the next reason for the considerable difficulty of the hospice volunteer. On the other hand, those who served more than twice per week replied that lack of background knowledge and their capability were the least considerable difficulty. Insufficiency of time was the reason of difficulty for male volunteers, as well as for females under thirty and those in their forties and fifties respectively. Generally most of the hospice volunteers (70%) were satisfied with their services and they usually satisfied with physical caring, spiritual caring, hospice's family caring. The less difficulty in voluntary services, more satisfaction for the volunteers in the end. There is a positive correlation between a attitude of the hospice volunteer and frequency of voluntary services while the volunteers' difficulty affect negatively their attitude as well as the frequency of voluntary services. Most of the hospice volunteers want to have more education about basic skills, volunteer's attitude and role, spirituality, the way of attending on the hospice and so on. Most of them considered discussion and sharing different cases as the most effective method. They also wish to had more supporting programs for the hospice volunteers(in the order of their needs) such as regular events, newsletters, personal concern, social meetings among the volunteers, insurance and minimum expenses. Based on the study results, more programs should be run in order to activate the voluntary services regardless of their gender and education background. A continuous practical supporting policy and education programs are required in order to provide special education and training courses considering every field of voluntary services. Expanding the role of the volunteers allows them more opportunities to take part in voluntary services and th activate participation. It is necessary to establish a new hospice system as a part public medical system, which can not only facilitate the voluntary services for a hospice but also enhance professional hospice volunteers. Finally, experts are needed to operate the voluntary services effectively.

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