Strongly encouraged as a way to act on present-day social problems, volunteer services are usually reffered as enriching for the person involved. However, when related to health, volunteer's technical and emotional support is questionable, for its absence or weakness may induce psychological suffering in the agent or jeopardize the interventions provided and the volunteer-professional relations. In order to better understand the nature of volunteer work and the way it is perceived by health team members, a two-part study was carried out. At the first part, 29 professionals answered a questionnaire about their perception concerning the volunteer work in the hospital; at the second, 14 of them were interviewed. Data were submitted to a thematic content analysis and to the software Alceste. Although the results indicated differences among professionals, the general evaluation of the volunteer services was positive, in spite of the limitations identified by some team members. The need for more qualification and supervision of the volunteers is discussed, and suggestions for future investigations are pointed.
volunteer work; hospital; health professionals; perception
