The Role of Unpaid Volunteers in a Group Caregiving Approach: Validation of the Share the Care™ Program.

Share The Care™ (STC) is a caregiving program that has been guiding people on how to pool their skills and resources to assist someone facing a health, aging, or medical crisis. The purpose of this research was to conduct a descriptive program evaluation to establish STC as an advanced program within the caregiver continuum that helps to alleviate caregiver burnout and isolation through the formation of an organized "caregiving family" for support. A sample of 134 participants completed an online questionnaire and 7 participated in follow-up phone interviews. The data collection was conducted in 2 phases, beginning with an online survey and followed by in-depth phone interviews of a sample of survey participants. The results of the study demonstrate that STC is successful in providing alternative caregiving strategies, helping to prevent isolation among adults living alone, easing burden among caregivers, and improving the overall wellbeing of those involved. A majority of caregivers (83%) reported a decreased sense of burden and 80% became more accepting of their family member's challenge or diagnosis. STC is a replicable caregiving program that has been supported by evidence. Adapting this model could provide benefits to participants and communities.