IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jocnur/v28y2019i23-24p4236-4249.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of volunteers’ care and support on the health outcomes of older adults in acute care: A systematic scoping review

Author

Listed:
  • Rosemary Saunders
  • Karla Seaman
  • Renée Graham
  • Angela Christiansen

Abstract

Aim To examine the available evidence on the effects of care and support provided by volunteers on the health outcomes of older adults in acute care services. Background Acute hospital inpatient populations are becoming older, and this presents the potential for poorer health outcomes. Factors such as chronic health conditions, polypharmacy and cognitive and functional decline are associated with increased risk of health care‐related harm, such as falls, delirium and poor nutrition. To minimise the risk of health care‐related harm, volunteer programmes to support patient care have been established in many hospitals worldwide. Design A systematic scoping review. Methods The review followed the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA‐ScR) (File S1). Nine databases were searched (CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect and JBI) using the following key terms: ‘hospital’, ‘volunteer’, ‘sitter’, ‘acute care’, ‘older adults’, ‘confusion’, ‘dementia’ and ‘frail’. The search was limited to papers written in English and published from 2002–2017. Inclusion criteria were studies involving the use of hospital volunteers in the care or support of older adult patients aged ≥ 65 years, or ≥ 50 years for Indigenous peoples, with chronic health conditions, cognitive impairment and/or physical decline or frailty, within the acute inpatient settings. Results Of the 199 articles identified, 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria were critically appraised for quality, and 12 articles were included in the final review. Conclusions There is evidence that the provision of volunteer care and support with eating and drinking, mobilising and therapeutic activities can impact positively upon patient health outcomes related to nutrition, falls and delirium. Further robust research is needed to determine the impact of volunteers in acute care and the specific care activities that can contribute to the best outcomes for older adults. Relevance to clinical practice Volunteers can play a valuable role in supporting care delivery by nurses and other health professionals in acute care services, and their contribution can improve health outcomes for older adults in this setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosemary Saunders & Karla Seaman & Renée Graham & Angela Christiansen, 2019. "The effect of volunteers’ care and support on the health outcomes of older adults in acute care: A systematic scoping review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(23-24), pages 4236-4249, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:28:y:2019:i:23-24:p:4236-4249
    DOI: 10.1111/jocn.15041
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15041
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jocn.15041?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luke Slawomirski & Ane Auraaen & Nicolaas S. Klazinga, 2017. "The economics of patient safety: Strengthening a value-based approach to reducing patient harm at national level," OECD Health Working Papers 96, OECD Publishing.
    2. Sue M Green & Helen J Martin & Helen C Roberts & Avan Aihie Sayer, 2011. "A systematic review of the use of volunteers to improve mealtime care of adult patients or residents in institutional settings," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(13‐14), pages 1810-1823, July.
    3. Eliza C Tassone & Jasmin A Tovey & Jessica E Paciepnik & Isabel M Keeton & Anthony Y Khoo & Nicholas G Van Veenendaal & Judi Porter, 2015. "Should we implement mealtime assistance in the hospital setting? A systematic literature review with meta‐analyses," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(19-20), pages 2710-2721, October.
    4. Alicja M Baczynska & Stephen ER Lim & Avan A Sayer & Helen C Roberts, 2016. "The use of volunteers to help older medical patients mobilise in hospital: a systematic review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(21-22), pages 3102-3112, November.
    5. Alessandro Liberati & Douglas G Altman & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Cynthia Mulrow & Peter C Gøtzsche & John P A Ioannidis & Mike Clarke & P J Devereaux & Jos Kleijnen & David Moher, 2009. "The PRISMA Statement for Reporting Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Studies That Evaluate Health Care Interventions: Explanation and Elaboration," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-28, July.
    6. Helen C Roberts & Sanet De Wet & Kirsty Porter & Gemma Rood & Norma Diaper & Judy Robison & Anna L Pilgrim & Marinos Elia & Alan A Jackson & Cyrus Cooper & Avan Aihie Sayer & Sian Robinson, 2014. "The feasibility and acceptability of training volunteer mealtime assistants to help older acute hospital inpatients: the Southampton Mealtime Assistance Study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(21-22), pages 3240-3249, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ella Ottrey & Claire Palermo & Catherine E. Huggins & Judi Porter, 2018. "Exploring staff perceptions and experiences of volunteers and visitors on the hospital ward at mealtimes using an ethnographic approach," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(7-8), pages 1571-1579, April.
    2. Dorthe Sørensen & Anna Rottensten Wieghorst & Johanne Andersen Elbek & Camilla Askov Mousing, 2020. "Mealtime challenges in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Who is responsible?," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(23-24), pages 4583-4593, December.
    3. Eliza C Tassone & Jasmin A Tovey & Jessica E Paciepnik & Isabel M Keeton & Anthony Y Khoo & Nicholas G Van Veenendaal & Judi Porter, 2015. "Should we implement mealtime assistance in the hospital setting? A systematic literature review with meta‐analyses," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(19-20), pages 2710-2721, October.
    4. Tripathy, Prajukta & Jena, Pabitra Kumar & Mishra, Bikash Ranjan, 2024. "Systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of energy efficiency," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Elizabeth T Cafiero-Fonseca & Andrew Stawasz & Sydney T Johnson & Reiko Sato & David E Bloom, 2017. "The full benefits of adult pneumococcal vaccination: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-23, October.
    6. Ludoviko Zirimenya & Fatima Mahmud-Ajeigbe & Ruth McQuillan & You Li, 2020. "A systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the association between urogenital schistosomiasis and HIV/AIDS infection," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-13, June.
    7. Trang Nguyen & Sara Holton & Thach Tran & Jane Fisher, 2019. "Informal mental health interventions for people with severe mental illness in low and lower middle-income countries: A systematic review of effectiveness," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 65(3), pages 194-206, May.
    8. Natalya Ivanova & Ekaterina Zolotova, 2023. "Landolt Indicator Values in Modern Research: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-22, June.
    9. Su Keng Tan & Wai Keung Leung & Alexander Tin Hong Tang & Roger A Zwahlen, 2017. "Effects of mandibular setback with or without maxillary advancement osteotomies on pharyngeal airways: An overview of systematic reviews," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-20, October.
    10. Vecchio, Riccardo & Caso, Gerarda & Cembalo, Luigi & Borrello, Massimiliano, 2020. "Is respondents’ inattention in online surveys a major issue for research?," Economia agro-alimentare / Food Economy, Italian Society of Agri-food Economics/Società Italiana di Economia Agro-Alimentare (SIEA), vol. 22(1), March.
    11. Alessandro Concari & Gerjo Kok & Pim Martens, 2020. "A Systematic Literature Review of Concepts and Factors Related to Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour in Relation to Waste Management Through an Interdisciplinary Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-50, May.
    12. Damiano Pizzol & Mike Trott & Igor Grabovac & Mario Antunes & Anna Claudia Colangelo & Simona Ippoliti & Cristian Petre Ilie & Anne Carrie & Nicola Veronese & Lee Smith, 2021. "Laparoscopy in Low-Income Countries: 10-Year Experience and Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-11, May.
    13. Yehuda Weizman & Oren Tirosh & Jeanie Beh & Franz Konstantin Fuss & Sonja Pedell, 2021. "Gait Assessment Using Wearable Sensor-Based Devices in People Living with Dementia: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-14, December.
    14. Alessandro Margherita & Emanuele Banchi & Alfredo Biffi & Gianluca di Castri & Rocco Morelli, 2022. "Beyond Total Cost Management (TCM) to Systemic Value Management (SVM): Transformational Trends and a Research Manifesto for an Evolving Discipline," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, October.
    15. Stefano D’Angelo & Angelo Cavallo & Antonio Ghezzi & Francesco Di Lorenzo, 2024. "Understanding corporate entrepreneurship in the digital age: a review and research agenda," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(12), pages 3719-3774, December.
    16. Fabio Magnacca & Riccardo Giannetti, 2024. "Management accounting and new product development: a systematic literature review and future research directions," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(2), pages 651-685, June.
    17. Jacob Elnaggar & Fern Tsien & Lucio Miele & Chindo Hicks & Clayton Yates & Melisa Davis, 2019. "An Integrative Genomics Approach for Associating Genetic Susceptibility with the Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Triple Negative Breast Cancer," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, February.
    18. Evans, Rhiannon & White, James & Turley, Ruth & Slater, Thomas & Morgan, Helen & Strange, Heather & Scourfield, Jonathan, 2017. "Comparison of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and suicide in children and young people in care and non-care populations: Systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 122-129.
    19. Yi Ouyang & Ping-Chao Lee & Ling-Mei Ko, 2022. "A Systematic Review of the Development of Sport Policy Research (2000–2020)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.
    20. Juliane Piasseschi de Bernardin Gonçalves & Giancarlo Lucchetti & Paulo Rossi Menezes & Homero Vallada, 2017. "Complementary religious and spiritual interventions in physical health and quality of life: A systematic review of randomized controlled clinical trials," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-21, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:28:y:2019:i:23-24:p:4236-4249. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2702 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.