Virtual volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic: case studies of virtual animal-assisted activities in a Singapore hospice.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the healthcare sector in many ways. Social safety measures in hospices in Singapore include cessation of non-essential services such as volunteering. Literature shows that volunteers are valuable in enhancing the quality of life of patients in receiving hospice services. They provide patients with needed companionship, and meaningful activities such as bringing their pets into the wards in animal-assisted activities. The rise of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic brought an increasing interest in virtual volunteering such as virtual animal-assisted activities (VAAA). However, there is currently a lack of literature on virtual volunteering as its increased demand is a recent trend. Virtual volunteering in a hospice in Singapore is described through two retrospective case studies of VAAA. These case studies showed that a therapeutic alliance can be effectively built via virtual platforms. Benefits of virtual volunteering include enabling continued service delivery and increased comfort for some patients as virtual interactions can be less intimidating as compared to interacting with an animal in real life. Virtual volunteering may be considered to complement face-to-face volunteering in end-of-life care as part of normal practice.