Oncology Volunteers: The Effect of a Personal Cancer History on Compassion and Psychological Well-Being

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

BACKGROUND: The impact of support work on volunteers with a personal history of cancer has rarely been examined, despite the possibility that supporting distressed individuals may become a psychological burden for someone who has faced a life-threatening disease themselves. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to compare compassion, self-compassion, self-coldness, and psychological well-being of oncology volunteers to the general population and clinical samples. METHODS: Volunteers completed questionnaires on demographic and volunteer work-related characteristics, the Compassion Toward Others Scale, the Self-Compassion Scale, and the Psychological General Well-Being Index. FINDINGS: Overall, volunteers indicated higher levels of self-compassion and psychological well-being and lower levels of self-coldness than clinical and community samples. Peer volunteers were less satisfied with their volunteer work and reported worse general health and psychological well-being than volunteers without a cancer history.