Hospice palliative care volunteers' attitudes, experiences, and perceived needs for training regarding medical assistance in dying

Abstract

Two separate studies were conducted to investigate hospice palliative care (HPC) volunteers’ attitudes towards medical assistance in dying (MAiD), their thoughts about current controversies surrounding MAiD, and their perceived need for training regarding MAiD. In Study One, a focus group was held with three HPC volunteers. All three volunteers were in favour of MAiD and supported their patients’ right to request MAiD, as long as they were mentally competent. None of the volunteers knew whether their HPC program had a policy for volunteers about how to manage inquiries about MAiD from patients, patients’ family members or caregivers. In Study Two, 27 HPC volunteers from two different programs responded to an in-depth survey. Their responses indicated that they were supportive of MAiD and in favour of some of the proposed changes to the current MAiD legislation (e.g., advanced requests for MAiD for patients in the early stages of dementia). More than two-thirds (68%) of the volunteers did not know if their HPC program had a MAiD policy specifically for volunteers. The majority (83%) of the volunteers reported that if one of their patients decided to pursue MAiD and requested their presence when MAiD was being administered, they would feel comfortable attending. Limitations of this research, suggestions for future research are discussed, as well as recommendations for HPC volunteer policy and MAiD training.