This review explores the recent literature on end-of-life care volunteering and reflects upon the issues pertinent to current organisational challenges and opportunities. The themes identified were individual volunteer factors (motivation, characteristics of volunteers, stress and coping, role boundaries and value) and organisational factors (recruiting for diversity, support and training and volunteers' place in the system). The tensions involved in negotiating the boundary spaces that volunteers inhabit, informality and regulation, diversity issues and the cultural specificity of community models, are suggested as topics that merit further research and could contribute to the continuing development of the volunteer workforce.
Morris, S., Wilmot, A., Hill, M., Ockenden, N. & Payne, S. 2013. A literature review of the contribution of volunteers in the end-of-life care services. Palliative Medicine, 27(5), pp. 428-436
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