Volunteer peer support frameworks supporting older women living alone

Abstract

Volunteer peer support is an approach that enables a supportive connection between volunteers and a sub-set of community members with shared experiences or interests. To implement co-designed strategies to support older women to maintain independence and optimise wellbeing in Australia, a volunteer peer support approach was proposed. There was limited literature describing volunteer peer support frameworks to underpin interventions of this kind; and given the increasing desire for engagement of individuals and communities, articulation of the key components of such a framework is warranted. In this paper, we define volunteers and peer support, and outline existing frameworks for volunteering and peer support. We then describe the volunteer peer support framework developed for this intervention, outlining the key requirements. This information will enable others to develop an effective and sustainable structure for peer support volunteer services.