{"id":{"repo_id":"oxford-brookes","oai_identifier":"tle:9ea0c6cb-390f-4f48-b9da-f188c56a7a71:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/oxford-brookes/tle:9ea0c6cb-390f-4f48-b9da-f188c56a7a71:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1","repository":{"repo_id":"oxford-brookes","name":"Oxford Brookes University","base_url":"https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/oai"},"display":{"title":"Developing volunteering as an intervention for social isolation in those with long-term neurological conditions","abstract":"Background: Participation in life situations in People with neurological conditions (pwNC) is often restricted due to physical, social and environmental factors. Social isolation is common and has been associated with increasing feelings of depression and apathy and reduced life expectancy. Opportunities for altruism, such as volunteering, support the sense of self-efficacy, providing a real-world social environment to train in physical and cognitive compensation strategies. However, there is limited research on volunteering as an intervention for those with neurological conditions. Design: This thesis aimed to develop a volunteering intervention for pwNC. The neurological conditions primarily considered in the studies were adult sudden onset conditions such as stroke or traumatic brain injury and progressive conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease or ataxia. The Medical Research Council (MRC) framework was used as a guideline to inform the development of a complex intervention. Specifically, this thesis contained 3 studies: Study 1: a scoping review mapped the current literature on volunteering for pwNC, unable to work. Study 2: focus groups of stakeholders, pwNC, health care professionals and volunteering services were used to refine program theory. Study 3: the results from studies 1 and 2 were used to develop an intervention, and study 3 was a usability study to test initial implementation and refine the intervention. Results: The developed intervention can be considered usable by pwNC. The intervention consists of guiding pwNC to find a suitable volunteer activity and carry it out according to their ability. However, multiple improvements to the intervention regarding supportive appointment coordination, placement, and technical aspects should be considered. The results warrant testing the feasibility of the adapted intervention, and its long-term effects on social isolation should be studied.","abstract_html":"Background: Participation in life situations in People with neurological conditions (pwNC) is often restricted due to physical, social and environmental factors. Social isolation is common and has been associated with increasing feelings of depression and apathy and reduced life expectancy. Opportunities for altruism, such as volunteering, support the sense of self-efficacy, providing a real-world social environment to train in physical and cognitive compensation strategies. However, there is limited research on volunteering as an intervention for those with neurological conditions. Design: This thesis aimed to develop a volunteering intervention for pwNC. The neurological conditions primarily considered in the studies were adult sudden onset conditions such as stroke or traumatic brain injury and progressive conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease or ataxia. The Medical Research Council (MRC) framework was used as a guideline to inform the development of a complex intervention. Specifically, this thesis contained 3 studies: Study 1: a scoping review mapped the current literature on volunteering for pwNC, unable to work. Study 2: focus groups of stakeholders, pwNC, health care professionals and volunteering services were used to refine program theory. Study 3: the results from studies 1 and 2 were used to develop an intervention, and study 3 was a usability study to test initial implementation and refine the intervention. Results: The developed intervention can be considered usable by pwNC. The intervention consists of guiding pwNC to find a suitable volunteer activity and carry it out according to their ability. However, multiple improvements to the intervention regarding supportive appointment coordination, placement, and technical aspects should be considered. The results warrant testing the feasibility of the adapted intervention, and its long-term effects on social isolation should be studied.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Eisenhut, Helene"],"institution":"Oxford Brookes University","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Yazdani, Farzaneh","Collett, Johnny"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":null,"date_issued":"","date_published":null,"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:42:03Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":["All rights reserved"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.24384/kxgm-x835","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Yazdani, Farzaneh","Collett, Johnny","Eisenhut, Helene"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Eisenhut, Helene"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Oxford Brookes University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["thesis"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["All rights reserved"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.24384/kxgm-x835","https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/9ea0c6cb-390f-4f48-b9da-f188c56a7a71/1/Eisenhut2024VolunteeringIntervention.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Background: Participation in life situations in People with neurological conditions (pwNC) is often restricted due to physical, social and environmental factors. Social isolation is common and has been associated with increasing feelings of depression and apathy and reduced life expectancy. Opportunities for altruism, such as volunteering, support the sense of self-efficacy, providing a real-world social environment to train in physical and cognitive compensation strategies. However, there is limited research on volunteering as an intervention for those with neurological conditions. Design: This thesis aimed to develop a volunteering intervention for pwNC. The neurological conditions primarily considered in the studies were adult sudden onset conditions such as stroke or traumatic brain injury and progressive conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease or ataxia. The Medical Research Council (MRC) framework was used as a guideline to inform the development of a complex intervention. Specifically, this thesis contained 3 studies: Study 1: a scoping review mapped the current literature on volunteering for pwNC, unable to work. Study 2: focus groups of stakeholders, pwNC, health care professionals and volunteering services were used to refine program theory. Study 3: the results from studies 1 and 2 were used to develop an intervention, and study 3 was a usability study to test initial implementation and refine the intervention. Results: The developed intervention can be considered usable by pwNC. The intervention consists of guiding pwNC to find a suitable volunteer activity and carry it out according to their ability. However, multiple improvements to the intervention regarding supportive appointment coordination, placement, and technical aspects should be considered. The results warrant testing the feasibility of the adapted intervention, and its long-term effects on social isolation should be studied."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Developing volunteering as an intervention for social isolation in those with long-term neurological conditions"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Yazdani, Farzaneh","Collett, Johnny","Eisenhut, Helene"],"dc:creator":["Eisenhut, Helene"],"dc:description":["Background: Participation in life situations in People with neurological conditions (pwNC) is often restricted due to physical, social and environmental factors. Social isolation is common and has been associated with increasing feelings of depression and apathy and reduced life expectancy. Opportunities for altruism, such as volunteering, support the sense of self-efficacy, providing a real-world social environment to train in physical and cognitive compensation strategies. However, there is limited research on volunteering as an intervention for those with neurological conditions. Design: This thesis aimed to develop a volunteering intervention for pwNC. The neurological conditions primarily considered in the studies were adult sudden onset conditions such as stroke or traumatic brain injury and progressive conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease or ataxia. The Medical Research Council (MRC) framework was used as a guideline to inform the development of a complex intervention. Specifically, this thesis contained 3 studies: Study 1: a scoping review mapped the current literature on volunteering for pwNC, unable to work. Study 2: focus groups of stakeholders, pwNC, health care professionals and volunteering services were used to refine program theory. Study 3: the results from studies 1 and 2 were used to develop an intervention, and study 3 was a usability study to test initial implementation and refine the intervention. Results: The developed intervention can be considered usable by pwNC. The intervention consists of guiding pwNC to find a suitable volunteer activity and carry it out according to their ability. However, multiple improvements to the intervention regarding supportive appointment coordination, placement, and technical aspects should be considered. The results warrant testing the feasibility of the adapted intervention, and its long-term effects on social isolation should be studied."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://doi.org/10.24384/kxgm-x835","https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/9ea0c6cb-390f-4f48-b9da-f188c56a7a71/1/Eisenhut2024VolunteeringIntervention.pdf"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Oxford Brookes University"],"dc:rights":["All rights reserved"],"dc:title":["Developing volunteering as an intervention for social isolation in those with long-term neurological conditions"],"dc:type":["thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:42:03Z"}