TY - JOUR AU - Flateland, Sylvi Monika AU - Skaar, Ragnhild AU - Fensli, Marthe M.F. AU - Söderhamn, Ulrika PY - 2017/03/30 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Pårørendes erfaringer med bruk av frivillige ved alvorlig sykdom i hjemmet JF - Nordisk tidsskrift for helseforskning JA - NorTidHelse VL - 13 IS - 1 SE - Fagfellevurderte artikler DO - 10.7557/14.4106 UR - https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/helseforsk/article/view/4106 SP - AB - <p><strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-large;">Next-of-kins’ experiences when using volunteers for palliative patients living at home</span></strong></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><em>The aim of this study was to illuminate next-of-kins’ experiences when using volunteers supplementing community health care services for palliative patients living at home. The study has a qualitative approach. Nine individual interviews were conducted with next of kin from a municipality in Southern Norway.</em><em> Use of volunteers for palliative care in the home was a relief for next-of-kin, especially prominent for families who had limited social network. Planned volunteering resulted in the best results. Use of volunteer was also found helpful for families as they were given a "breathing space" and a certain normalization of everyday life. The volunteers followed up activities related to the patient that the next-of-kin to a limited extent managed to attend. This affected the next-of-kin’s conscience in a positive way. The next-of-kin experienced the volunteers to be empathetic, they could inspire confidence and showed good characteristics to assist ill people and their next-of-kin.</em><em> The next-of-kin needed regular relief from volunteers as a supplement to the </em><em>community health care services</em><em>. </em><em>The volunteers were well suited to meet people, who were in a difficult situation, and with their approach they had strong confidence in the next-of-kin and gave them relief in a challenging environment.</em><em> The coordinator for palliative care was a key person in relation to the link between families, patients in palliative care and the volunteers.</em></span></span></p> ER -