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The Empathy in Volunteer and Hospice Worker Caregiving
VÁCHOVÁ, Lucie
The goal of the theoretical part is to deal and understand issues as death and dying, human personality and sel ess help in volunteer and hospice worker caregiving. The aim of the research part is to evaluate personal characteristics of volunteers who take care of dying people. It also includes a questionnaire which examines the level of interpersonal orientation, the volunteers´ capability to organize their work, their endurance and motivation. The questionnaire also focuses on the volunteers´ altruism structure, empathy and willingness to help. I addressed volunteer caregivers in civic associations Sdileni (Sharing) and Cesta domu (Homecoming), St. Alzbeta Hospice in Brno and some volunteer caregivers who have experience with dying or terminally ill people. I compared the results of my research on 15 volunteers with the results of the research carried out by Assoc. Prof. Helena Zaskodna on 828 students of assisting professions in 2006-2008. Both my results and those reached by Assoc. Prof. Helena Zaskodna confirmed that the volunteers showed a higher degree of empathy, exocentric altruism, endurance, and kindness, as it was expected. I tried to write this thesis in a way easy to understand for everybody. I also tried to provide enough evidence to motivate the reader to re-evaluate his or her way of thinking and behaviour and to understand that we ourselves create our lives: Let compassion beget compassion.
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