The Spirituality and Death Anxiety of Hospice Volunteers and Trainees: a Qualitative Research Study

The present study investigated the spirituality and death anxiety of hospice volunteers and trainees. Twenty persons, ten hospice volunteer trainees and ten current volunteers, were interviewed with both a standardized open-ended interview and an informal conversational interview to allow for dialogue related to these personal issues. Results show that people interested in hospice volunteering often have a deep commitment to a religious organization, or a desire for spiritual understanding. The participants also tended to believe in some form of life after death, and were not particularly fearful of death, although some feared the process of dying. Personal reflections of a person who went through training and then began volunteering are included to give a longitudinal perspective