Effective hospice volunteers: demographic and personality characteristics.

The purpose of the study was to examine demographic and personality characteristics of highly effective hospice volunteers. Volunteer coordinators of all Texas Hospice Organization member hospices were asked to select their most committed and effective volunteers to participate in the study. Volunteers had above-average incomes, were predominately white, female, active in other voluntary activities, and motivated by their own experiences with death of a loved one. The largest proportion of female volunteers (27.3 percent) were extroverted, sensing, feeling, judging personality types (ESFJ), whereas, for male volunteers, the largest proportion (20.8 percent) were introverted, sensing, thinking, judging personality types (ISTJ). This information will be beneficial in recruitment, training, and retention of hospice volunteers.