ARE YOU A PALLIATIVE CARE VOLUNTEER WITH A PERSONAL GRIEF STORY?

Florence is a volunteer at the St. Vincent’s Sacred Heart Hospice running a study for a research project exploring palliative care volunteers’ lived experience of grief.

Palliative care volunteers can be said to make up a unique group of individuals who have actively and freely chosen to offer time, energy as well as other personal resources in the service of supporting those who are terminally ill.

For some volunteers, a previous personal experience of grief, such as the death of a loved one, may be a motivating factor for deciding to volunteer.

This project explores how volunteers who have had a lived experience of grief make sense of their volunteering role in palliative care. 

We live in a society where death and dying remain subjects that arouse great discomfort. Yet, grief and bereavement are also universal human experiences. 

The findings from this study will provide insight into how and why some individuals draw on their personal grief experience as a catalyst for volunteering, and in this way also contribute to a deeper understanding of the changing nature of grief as a lived experience.

To participate, please contact Florence Chiew by email 12171@cairnmillar.edu.au

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