From nuisance to helpful assistants: A qualitative thematic analysis of medical volunteers' experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran
-
Mohammad Hossein Sadeghian
,
Fatemeh Khoshnavay Fomani
,
Mozhgan Moshtagh
,
Elham Elahi
,
Abdolrahman Rostamian
,
Abbas Ostadtaghizadeh
Abstract
Background & Aim: Volunteers’ perceptions may affect their future decisions to participate in crisis intervention. Few studies in Iran have been conducted to examine the experiences of medical personnel who volunteered during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative study describes the experiences of medical volunteers during COVID-19 in Iran.
Methods & Materials: A total of 17 healthcare volunteers who worked in COVID-19 hospital wards were recruited using purposive sampling. All participants were recruited in the current study from the hospitals affiliated with the Tehran University of Medical Sciences if they expressed their willingness to participate and had at least two months experience of working as healthcare volunteers in COVID-19 wads. In-depth video-call semi-structured interviews were conducted from August to November 2020. The data were analyzed using the qualitative thematic analysis method.
Results: One main theme “from nuisance to helpful assistants” and four sub-themes including the “feeling of inefficiency”, “negligent managing”, “situation orientation”, and “transformation for integrity” emerged from the data.
Conclusion: Despite experiencing challenges, the volunteers and hospital staff tried to change their approaches to joint collaboration by improving their capabilities for situation awareness and creating integrity. These findings provide policymakers with a better understanding of health volunteers' challenges in hospitals during crises.
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27. Addington-Hall JM, Karlsen S. A national survey of health professionals and volunteers working in voluntary hospice services in the UK. I. Attitudes to current issues affecting hospices and palliative care. Palliative Medicine. 2005;19(1):40-8.
28. Greenfield EA, Scharlach AE, Davitt JK. Organizational Characteristics and Volunteering in Age-Friendly Supportive Service Initiatives. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 2016;45(5):931-48.
2. Handy F, Srinivasan N. Valuing Volunteers: An Economic Evaluation of the Net Benefits of Hospital Volunteers. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 2004;33(1):28-54.
3. Iserson KV. Burnout Syndrome: Global Medicine Volunteering as a Possible Treatment Strategy. The Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2018;54(4):516-21.
4. Gonella S, Canzan F, Larghero E, Ambrosi E, Palese A, Dimonte V. Hospital volunteering experiences suggest that new policies are needed to promote their integration in daily care: Findings from a qualitative study. Slovenian Journal of Public Health. 2019;58(4):164-72.
5. Gonella S, Canzan F, Larghero E, Ambrosi E, Palese A, Dimonte V. Hospital Volunteering Experiences Suggest that New Policies are Needed to Promote their Integration in Daily Care: Findings from a Qualitative Study. Zdr Varst. 2019;58(4):164-72.
6. Farahahni AJ, Ebrahimnia M, Zijoud SRH. Non-governmental and voluntary groups, collaborators in the fight against COVID-19. Journal of Military Medicine. 2020;22(2):98-9.
7. Irandoost SF, Sedighi S, Hoseini AS, Ahmadi A, Safari H, Ebadi Fard Azar F, et al. Activities and challenges of volunteers in confrontation with COVID-19: A qualitative study in Iran. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct. 2022;82:103314.
8. Nesbit R, Christensen RK, Brudney JL. The Limits and Possibilities of Volunteering: A Framework for Explaining the Scope of Volunteer Involvement in Public and Nonprofit Organizations. Public Administration Review. 2018;78(4):502-13.
9. Colombo A, Marques L. Motivation and experience in symbiotic events: an illustrative example grounded in culture and business events. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events. 2020;12(2):222-38.
10. Herman JB, Dunham RB, Hulin CL. Organizational structure, demographic characteristics, and employee responses. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance. 1975;13(2):206-32.
11. Tong A, Sainsbury P, Craig J. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. International journal for quality in health care. 2007;19(6):349-57.
12. Braun V, Clarke V. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology. 2006;3(2):77-101.
13. Clarke V. Successful Qualitative Research : A Practical Guide for Beginners. London: SAGE Publications Ltd; 2013. Available from: http://digital.casalini.it/9781446281024
http://digital.casalini.it/5017629.
14. Fereday J, Muir-Cochrane E. Demonstrating Rigor Using Thematic Analysis: A Hybrid Approach of Inductive and Deductive Coding and Theme Development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 2006;5(1):80-92.
15. Nowell LS, Norris JM, White DE, Moules NJ. Thematic Analysis:Striving to Meet the Trustworthiness Criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 2017;16(1):1609406917733847.
16. Shrestha B, Dunn L. The declaration of helsinki on medical research involving human subjects: A review of seventh revision. Journal of Nepal Health Research Council. 2019;17(4):548-52.
17. Bloomer MJ, Walshe C. ‘It’s not what they were expecting’: A systematic review and narrative synthesis of the role and experience of the hospital palliative care volunteer. Palliative Medicine. 2020;34(5):589-604.
18. Kim Y. Nurses' experiences of care for patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus in South Korea. American Journal of Infection Control. 2018;46(7):781-7.
19. Keeley C, Jimenez J, Jackson H, Boudourakis L, Salway RJ, Cineas N, et al. Staffing Up For The Surge: Expanding The New York City Public Hospital Workforce During The COVID-19 Pandemic: Article describes how New York City’s public health care system rapidly expanded capacity across 11 acute-care hospitals and three new field hospitals to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Health Affairs. 2020;39(8):1426-30.
20. Moshtagh M, Mohsenpour M. Moral distress situations in nursing care. Clinical Ethics. 2019;14(3):141-5.
21. Khosravi M, Ghiasi Z, Ganjali A. A narrative review of research on healthcare staff’s burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare. 2022;31:20101058211040575.
22. Galehdar N, Toulabi T, Kamran A, Heydari H. Exploring nurses' perception of taking care of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19): A qualitative study. Nursing Open. 2021;8(1):171-9.
23. Ogoina D, Mahmood D, Oyeyemi AS, Okoye OC, Kwaghe V, Habib Z, et al. A national survey of hospital readiness during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. PLOS ONE. 2021;16(9):e0257567.
24. Organization WH. Ensuring readiness for COVID-19: checklists for emergency medical services and hospitals. 2022.
25. Studer S, von Schnurbein G. Organizational Factors Affecting Volunteers: A Literature Review on Volunteer Coordination. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. 2013;24(2):403-40.
26. Qazi A, Qazi J, Naseer K, Zeeshan M, Hardaker G, Maitama JZ, et al. Analyzing situational awareness through public opinion to predict adoption of social distancing amid pandemic COVID-19. Journal of Medical Virology. 2020;92(7):849-55.
27. Addington-Hall JM, Karlsen S. A national survey of health professionals and volunteers working in voluntary hospice services in the UK. I. Attitudes to current issues affecting hospices and palliative care. Palliative Medicine. 2005;19(1):40-8.
28. Greenfield EA, Scharlach AE, Davitt JK. Organizational Characteristics and Volunteering in Age-Friendly Supportive Service Initiatives. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 2016;45(5):931-48.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 10 No 1 (2023): Winter | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/npt.v10i1.12258 | |
| Keywords | ||
| COVID-19; hospital volunteers, perception, Iran, qualitative research | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
How to Cite
1.
Sadeghian MH, Khoshnavay Fomani F, Moshtagh M, Elahi E, Rostamian A, Ostadtaghizadeh A. From nuisance to helpful assistants: A qualitative thematic analysis of medical volunteers’ experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran. NPT. 2023;10(1):62-70.
