Volunteers under threat: AIDS hospice volunteers compared to volunteers in a traditional hospice

We studied volunteers in one of the world's first AIDS-dedicated hospices and compared them on demographic, experiential, and personality related dimensions to volunteers in a traditional hospice. Eighty percent of the active volunteers at each facility participated. Eight of 16 demographic and 4 of 11 personality related variables differentiated the two groups. AIDS hospice volunteers were on all measures a more heterogeneous group--largely gay or bisexual, younger, more likely to have had prior personal experience with AIDS. In addition, they perceived themselves to be functioning under a significantly higher degree of threat caused by their volunteer work. We performed a post hoc analysis controlling for sexual orientation and matching heterosexual volunteers for gender. Threats to health, social world, employment, and total threat significantly differentiated the two heterosexual groups of volunteers.