Volunteer Ombudsmen Research Articles

Factors Effecting Volunteer Ombudsman Effort and Service Duration: Comparing Active and Resigned Volunteers

Volunteers are key to successful ombudsmen programs. Motivating them and keeping them is difficult. The principal goal of this article is to compare active and resigned volunteer ombudsman perceptions (along with select demographic influences) of factors that either encouraged or discouraged their work. The authors find that former ombudsmen felt more role ambiguity, greater nursing facility resistance, higher boredom, and desired better supervision than active volunteer ombudsmen. They also served less time in significantly smaller facilities. Both active and resigned volunteers perceived relatively high role conflict. Implications regarding strategies to improve volunteer ombudsman work effort and retention are discussed.

Volunteer ombudsmen in the nursing home: Obstacles to retention

This research investigated facets of the volunteer ombudsman's role as related to orientation, performance, and satisfaction. The status of the volunteer, whether active or inactive, and their perceptions of barriers to ongoing participation was examined. The majority of the volunteers identified their primary orientation as that of therapeutic supporter, a friendly visitor who provided emotional support to residents. This type of volunteer was more likely to remain in the program longer than the other orientations of advocate or mediator. Former volunteers reported more resistance from nursing home staff, had significantly less success in resolving issues, felt their needs as volunteers were overlooked, and received less continuing training. These former volunteers were far less likely to recommend volunteering in the ombudsman program to their friends or family. Since volunteer programs depend upon a positive or at least neutral experience from participants, recruiting and retaining participants remains problematic.

Texas certified volunteer Long-Term Care Ombudsmen: perspectives of role and effectiveness.

Under the federally mandated Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP), certified volunteer ombudsmen (CVO) advocate for the welfare and rights of residents in nursing facilities. In Texas, the Department on Aging contracts with 28 agencies to deliver the LTCOP in respective regions. Regional ombudsman staff in charge of a group of CVOs administers each local program. The volunteer ombudsman role is threefold: advocate, mediator, and friendly visitor. This descriptive study used a 75-item mail survey designed to gain a better understanding of CVOs' perspectives of their role and effectiveness. A total of 361 active, certified volunteers participated, representing all of the 28 regional Texas ombudsman programs. A series of focus groups was used to amplify survey data. Findings indicate overall role satisfaction, although perception of satisfaction varied with volunteers' age, length of service, level of education, and work experience. Volunteers felt most effective in promoting residents' rights and welfare, and least effective in dealing with financial exploitation, nutrition, and hydration issues. Although not always able to achieve desired changes, most volunteers believed that the ombudsman presence was a positive force. A need for improved understanding and support of the ombudsman role among facility staff and regulatory agents was exposed. CVOs' potentially favorable impact on the institutional setting in general, and facility personnel in particular, is dependent on the support from state personnel and regional ombudsman staff as well as the willingness of nursing facility staff to cooperate. Volunteers' sense of performance effectiveness is essential to the success of the LTCOP. Specific recommendations based on study findings are intended to assist in assuring continuous program quality improvement purposed to ensure residents' quality of life.

Texas Certified Volunteer Long-Term Care Ombudsmen: Perspectives of Role and Effectiveness

Background Under the federally mandated Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP), certified volunteer ombudsmen (CVO) advocate for the welfare and rights of residents in nursing facilities. In Texas, the Department on Aging contracts with 28 agencies to deliver the LTCOP in respective regions. Regional ombudsman staff in charge of a group of CVOs administers each local program. The volunteer ombudsman role is threefold: advocate, mediator, and friendly visitor. Methods This descriptive study used a 75-item mail survey designed to gain a better understanding of CVOs’ perspectives of their role and effectiveness. A total of 361 active, certified volunteers participated, representing all of the 28 regional Texas ombudsman programs. A series of focus groups was used to amplify survey data. Results Findings indicate overall role satisfaction, although perception of satisfaction varied with volunteers’ age, length of service, level of education, and work experience. Volunteers felt most effective in promoting residents’ rights and welfare, and least effective in dealing with financial exploitation, nutrition, and hydration issues. Although not always able to achieve desired changes, most volunteers believed that the ombudsman presence was a positive force. A need for improved understanding and support of the ombudsman role among facility staff and regulatory agents was exposed. Discussion CVOs’ potentially favorable impact on the institutional setting in general, and facility personnel in particular, is dependent on the support from state personnel and regional ombudsman staff as well as the willingness of nursing facility staff to cooperate. Volunteers’ sense of performance effectiveness is essential to the success of the LTCOP. Specific recommendations based on study findings are intended to assist in assuring continuous program quality improvement purposed to ensure residents’ quality of life.

Training Residents' Rights Case Advocates in Effective Situational Conflict Skills

Despite work that is inherently conflictual, very little dispute resolution training is provided to the paid and volunteer ombudsmen who investigate complaints in America's elder care facilities. This article explains how the special conflict dynamics of long-term care support the implementation of a two-phased knowledge- and skills-based training program designed to develop skills in situational conflict. The benefits of situational conflict training are explored in the context of the long-term care system's highly regulated, yet fundamentally unbalanced power structure which promotes inequity and issue rigidity, undermining the advocate's use of collaborative Strategies in favor of adversarial tactics.

Evaluation of the Impact of a Volunteer Ombudsman Program: The Rhode Island Experience

ABSTRACTThe research assessed the impact of a major innovation in the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program that occurred in Rhode Island in 1997–the introduction of a volunteer component in which community members were trained and certified as advocates for residents in long-term care. Based on reports to the state ombudsman office, the findings indicated that the placement of volunteer ombudsman was associated with the generation of more complaints and more serious complaints about the facilities in which they were placed, some of which could not be resolved despite the greater intensity of interventions applied in these cases. Dat derived from nursing home inspections revealed a negative and significant correlation between the length of time a volunteer had been at a facility and the number of deficiencies.

Volunteer and Paid Ombudsmen Investigating Complaints in Six States: A Natural Triaging

The Long Term Care Ombudsman Program provides an opportunity to explore how a public mandate is implemented through the use of paid and volunteer ombudsmen who investigate complaints in long-term care facilities. In this article, the authors report partial findings from a growing database across six states, focusing on what is known about the use of volunteers and paid staff complaint investigation. Findings reveal differences in the types of complaints received, the sources of complaints, and the percentage of complex (difficult) complaints investigated by volunteers and paid staff. These differences result in a natural triaging that occurs among volunteers and paid staff, so that complaints viewed as difficult to verify and resolve are automatically given to paid staff.

TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES, EFFICACY, AND WORRY AMONG VOLUNTEER OMBUDSMEN IN NURSING FACILITIES

Training and educational activities for volunteers are thought to benefit both the volunteers and the organizations they serve. Questionnaire data from 754 volunteer ombudsmen in nursing facilities ( M = 69 years of age) were used to test hypotheses about relationships between initial and in-service training, assessment of initial training, preferences for eight specific training and educational activities, demographic characteristics, efficacy, and worry about performing ombudsman tasks. A positive assessment of early training, rather than actual training, contributed directly to greater efficacy and less worry. In-service training enhanced efficacy. Most preferences for training and educational activities were not associated with well-being, but when they were, expressed needs were related to less efficacy and more worry. From the practice standpoint, one focus should be on factors that increase feelings of efficacy, a powerful resource for well-being of volunteers and ultimately for those whom they serve.

Rural volunteer ombudsman programs.

We examine benefits and difficulties surrounding the effective implementation of a long-term care volunteer ombudsman program in a rural setting. Discussion focuses on the uniqueness of each rural community and potential strategies that can be mixed and matched to meet individual community needs. We consider implications for the development and implementation of ombudsman programs in rural areas.

Volunteer ombudsman burnout in long term care services: some causes and solutions.

A study of volunteer ombudsmen in long term care facilities indicates that currently active and "burned out" volunteers differ in their perception of organizational obstacles and desired supervisory supports. Difficulties found in program funding, attitudes on nursing home staff, the frail nature of the population served and the strategic orientation--"contest" or "collaborative"--one assigns to the task of patient representation may have played a critical role in discouraging some of the volunteers to continue to aid the institutionalized elderly.