Abstract

As the hospice concept becomes more popular, there is an increased need for hospice volunteers. Hospice volunteer coordinators are seeking methods that will help enhance volunteer recruitment and retention. One screening method that has been used by employment and educational counselors to identify characteristics associated with success is the measurement of self-efficacy.

Studies of hospice volunteer retention have addressed previous volunteer experience, religiosity, and personality type. While there has been consistency in some characteristics as predictors of success, contradicting results exist. An individual's level of comfort around death issues has been suggested as a better predictor than death anxiety. This research study was a prospective cohort study of 181 new hospice volunteers from twenty hospice agencies in the tri-state Delaware Valley who participated in training from May to November 2000.

The purpose of this study was to describe the factors associated with retention of new hospice volunteers. The primary focus was the relationships between general self-efficacy, death-specific self-efficacy and a hospice volunteer's retention in that role. Secondly, the relationships between personal factors, agency and training variables and retention were also assessed.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3031519; ProQuest document ID: 251712190. The author still retains copyright.

Authors

Joann ErbFollow

Author Details

Joann Erb, PhD

Sigma Membership

Iota Kappa

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Cohort

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Hospice Care, Volunteer Experiences, Retention

Advisor

Patricia Legos

Second Advisor

Grace Ma

Third Advisor

Allen Orsi

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

Temple University

Degree Year

2001

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2023-05-24

Full Text of Presentation

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