title: Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients.
abstract: This study examines the possibility that volunteer support can influence how long terminally ill patients survive. Hospice patient files (N = 290) were coded for marital status and volunteer support condition, respectively, the latter on the basis of whether visits from volunteers were requested and received (n = 94), requested but not received (n = 28), or neither requested nor received (n = 168). Baseline health, disease type, and demographic dimensions were comparable across support conditions. Results indicated that when a baseline health status effect was controlled for (p<.0002), patients in the volunteer support condition survived significantly longer than did patients in either unvisited condition (p<.0001). Neither marital status nor gender independently predicted survival time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. kherbst@psy.ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Herbst-Damm
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Kulik
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D015996:Survival Rate; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014838:Volunteers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*