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Pilot study of a visitor volunteer programme for community elderly people receiving home health care
Author(s) -
MacIntyre Irene,
Corradetti Pat,
Roberts Jacqueline,
Browne Gina,
Watt Susan,
Lane Adele
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
health and social care in the community
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.984
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1365-2524
pISSN - 0966-0410
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2524.1999.00178.x
Subject(s) - visitor pattern , volunteer , nursing , medicine , social support , elderly people , psychology , gerontology , social psychology , computer science , agronomy , biology , programming language
There is a need to evaluate community support programmes for elderly people. In this randomized control trial (RCT), we determined the effectiveness of 'friendly visitors' in a volunteer programme of a visiting nurses organization in Southern Ontario, Canada. The Volunteer Friendly Visitor Programme was developed to support elderly people receiving homemaking and nursing care in the community. Volunteers are screened, trained, interviewed and matched to homebound elderly clients for general interest, visit expectations and personality. Volunteers spend three to four hours on average per week with clients socializing in mutually agreed‐upon ways. The nursing staff identified clients who were lonely for this additional support. These newly‐referred clients were randomly allocated to receive a friendly visitor or not for six weeks. Those receiving the volunteer visitor improved in life satisfaction and two social support measures: worth and social integration. Thus, the addition of volunteer visitors to planned homemaking and nursing care made a difference for elderly in the community.