Investigating the lived experiences of unpaid non-familial volunteer caregivers who served older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The publicly funded long-term support system for the growing population of older adults in the United States is insufficiently funded and relies on familial and non-familial volunteer caregivers, but there is a declining number of familial caregivers due to trends of smaller families (Friss Feinberg & Spillman, 2019;Mather et al., 2015;Vespa et al., 2018). Further, the organizations that recruit non-familial volunteer caregivers struggle with high rates of volunteer turnover (Pettijohn et al., 2013). The looming crisis of insufficient volunteer caregivers was spotlighted upon the 2020 onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Graham, 2020), however at least one group of non-familial volunteer caregivers continued to serve. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the lived experiences of unpaid, non-familial volunteer caregivers who served older adults within a Faith in Action model volunteer driver program during the first year of the pandemic. Hermeneutic phenomenology guided semi-structured interviews of eight volunteers (Smith et al., 2009). Findings indicate that the volunteer's commitment to older adults, awareness of the needs of older adults, and established relationships with older adults were more important than personal concerns about exposure to COVID-19. Study participants were alert to the needs of older adults during and between service activities, and made personal sacrifices of time, money, and physical exertion to accommodate needs. Participants approached service with a feeling of care for the older adult and expected reciprocal care in the form of appreciation. They considered discontinuing service if efforts weren't appreciated or if deeply held values were violated. The volunteer service organization was key in mitigating conflict within the relationship of the volunteer and older adult, thereby increasing the likelihood that the volunteer would continue serving. Implications include training older adult clients to meet expectations of care and appreciation for volunteers, managing volunteers whose personal sacrifices exceed the scope of volunteer service, and supporting volunteers whose values have been violated. Future research is needed to investigate findings among volunteers providing other services to older adults, volunteers in their first months of services, and the experiences of volunteers matched with a small number of ongoing clients. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)