Table 1 Project structure

Phase

Objectives

Description

Phase 1

Design of education and training programme

To:

• provide adequate preparation for the volunteering role

• hone existing skills

• develop awareness of end of life care

• explore individual’s sense of resilience and ability to cope with the demands of the role

• avoid professionalization of the role

Three full days

9 × 2 h sessions

Shadowing Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Team

Five modules:

• Process of death and dying

• Emotional support

• Spiritual support

• Communication skills

• Understanding the CODV role and boundaries

Delivery of 12 week education and training programme

Phase 2

26 week pilot implementation

• Six wards purposively chosen within the Trust for their high proportion of expected deaths and referrals to specialist palliative care

• Ward areas prepared - dissemination of study/service information via briefing with healthcare professionals

• Referral criteria – patients believed to be in the last hours or days of life who had been referred to the Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Team

• Service offered to patients who had no or few visitors and to the families and friends of patients who were in need of a break from their bedside vigil.

Phase 3

Research evaluation of the CODV programme and implementation

• mixed methods evaluation employing questionnaires and phenomenological interviews

• All nurses and healthcare assistants on the pilot wards invited to complete a study specific questionnaire to assess attitudes to and expectations of volunteers in care of the dying prior to implementation

• Phenomenological interviews undertaken with volunteers, staff and bereaved relatives who had been directly involved in a support episode during the pilot phase, to gain an understanding of their experiences and views of the service

• Questionnaire data analysed descriptively (means, medians, proportions, as appropriate)

• Interview data transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.