Palliative care volunteerism among college students in Canada

Abstract

The goal of Study 1 was to investigate whether young Canadian adults were interested in becoming involved in palliative care volunteer work. After reading a brief description of what volunteering in a palliative care environment typically involves, participants (undergraduate students) were asked to indicate whether they would be interested in this kind of volunteer experience and to provide a written explanation of their answer.

Of the 105 participating students, only 39 (37.1 percent) expressed an interest in volunteering, while 66 (62.9 percent) were not interested. Not surprisingly, the results revealed that significantly more females than males were interested in palliative care volunteer work (45.9 percent and 25.0 percent, respectively). The most common reason students gave for wanting to become a palliative care volunteer was to help others; the reason given most often for not wanting to volunteer was that it would be too emotionally demanding. It is important to note that prior to taking part in this study the majority of the participating students (75.9 percent) did not know what palliative care was.

The goal of Study 2 was to investigate undergraduate students’ interest in volunteering in a nursing home, in a classroom, and at a food bank. Of the 111 participating students, 74 (66.7 percent) expressed an interest in volunteering at a food bank and in a nursing home, and 89 (80.2 percent) were interested in becoming a classroom volunteer. Together, the results of Studies 1 and 2 support the view that young people in Canada (especially males) are not interested in becoming involved in the care of dying persons. However, the results also indicate that they are very interested in volunteering with other populations (e.g., the elderly, school children) and in other settings (e.g., food bank).