Samenvatting

The research project ‘Called to Care’ focuses on the support given to volunteers offering pastoral care in South African hospitals. HospiVision is a Christian faith-based NGO, with the vision to touch the lives of sick people and those around them and to give them hope through counseling, spiritual care and physical support.
In ‘Called to Care,’ the question is asked:
‘How do the volunteers of the pastoral care and counseling programme at the Steve Biko Academic and Tshwane District Hospitals value their involvement in the programme and what can be done by the HospiVision staff to raise a greater awareness of the value of the volunteers’ involvement and to further support them?’
The goal in researching this question was to make recommendations as to what more can be done by HospiVision staff for the volunteers in the pastoral care and counselling programme at the Steve Biko Academic and Tshwane District Hospitals, as well as by the volunteers themselves (self-care), so that they experience their involvement as meaningful and make a long term commitment.
Through literature study, participatory observation and interviews with various stakeholders, recommendations were made as to how HospiVision can better support her volunteers. These recommendations, based on the strengths and weakness of the volunteer programme, address the programme as a whole as well as the more specific areas of screening, training and courses, and supervision.
HospiVision is a well-structured organization which serves as an example to other volunteer organizations and those offering spiritual and emotional care in hospitals.