Antea Worldwide Palliative Care Conference

Rome, 12-14 November 2008

ABSTRACT FORM

Presenting author WHICH TRAINING FOR THE VOLUNTEER IN PALLIATIVE CARE?

Roberta Brugnoli
Email:
formaz.volontari@vidas.it
Phone
Mobile phone
Please underline the most
appropriate category for your
abstract
• Pain and other symptoms
• Palliative care for cancer patients
• Palliative care for non cancer
patients
• Paediatric palliative care
• Palliative care for the elderly
• The actors of palliative care
• Latest on drugs
• Pain
Authors (max 6, presenting author included): Roberta Brugnoli, Daniela Cattaneo
Work on volunteer self behaviour is the pre-requirement. A good selection, better if supported by
an aptitude test, is useful but not always sufficient to point out unsuitable behavioural aspects,
coming out just when the volunteer is close with suffering and death. Selection and training are a
whole process, stressing the volunteer self-evaluation on his own emotions and limits. The
setting (home or hospice), the specific pathology (cancer end of life) influence consistently the
kind of relationship and the training too. A basis and permanent training might move from theory
to individual experience, group discussions and case analyses. Periodic feed back must be done,
in order to: determine whether the training is suitable to the volunteer activity and coherent with
the association’s mission, estimate the volunteers sense of belonging to the association; adapt the
lines of next trainings, if necessary. Vidas uses different tools in order to achieve this purpose,
e.g.: collecting data on the compulsory attendance to training, organizing three times a year
whole volunteers group meetings, more often small specific groups to discuss problems and
periodically administrating volunteers auto-evaluation questionnaires. Part of the verifying
process is discussing the emerging results with whom concerned. This structured training is
possible if human resources and funds are dedicated to such mission: person in charge of
volunteer selection and training keeps the coordination with trainers giving them precise goals,
dialogs with volunteers to stimulate participation and understanding the needs, cooperating with
people in charge of activities to evaluate different needs of patients and families. So key-words in
volunteer training are: responsibility (exposing individually to group opinions, undertaking the
task and face it continuously, respecting roles and rules) and active listening (counseling and
dealing with emotions). Just then good training becomes real presence.

• Illness and suffering through

media
• Marginalisation and social stigma
at the end of life
• Palliative care advocacy projects

• Prognosis and diagnosis

communication in
different cultures
• Communication between doctor-
patient and patient-
equipe
• Religions and cultures versus
suffering, death and
bereavement
• Public institution in the world:
palliative care policies
and law
• Palliative care: from villages to metropolies

• Space, light and gardens for the terminally ill patient

• End-of-life ethics
• Complementary therapies Session: Volunteer in palliative care
• Education, training and research
• Fund-raising and no-profit Chair of the session: Dott. Silvana Zambrini
• Bereavement support
• Volunteering in palliative care
• Rehabilitation in palliative care