Components of the Empowerment of Volunteers Providing Nursing Services During Disasters: A Systematic Review

Nursing service providers play an important role in disaster response teams. However, their ability to deal with disasters is less than desirable. This situation can lead to poor performance in caring for victims. On the other hand, trained and empowered volunteers can play a valuable role in achieving the goals of disaster management at all stages, from mitigation to recovery. Therefore, this systematic review was conducted to investigate the dimensions and key components of empowering nursing service providers in responding to disasters.

In this study, an electronic search of the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and ProQuest databases and gray literature was performed. The searches were conducted on October 14, 2023. Other search resources, such as organizational websites and key journals, were manually searched. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) checklist was used to select the studies. The findings were analyzed via thematic content analysis using MAXQDA2020 software. The Joanna Briggs Institute checklists were used to evaluate the quality of studies.

A total of 16 studies out of 8067 studies were included in this analysis. The selected studies included 3 studies from the United States, 1 from Turkey, 1 from Saudi Arabia, 2 from Iran, 3 from Republic of Korea, 2 from China, 2 from Switzerland, and 2 from Brazil. Two main themes, including individual elements and organizational elements, as well as 6 categories and 27 subcategories, were extracted. The categories included management and leadership abilities, professional and knowledge-based capabilities, personality and behavioral abilities, professional and organizational empowerment, organizational support packages, and capacity building.

The results of this study emphasized that the volunteers providing nursing services should have certain characteristics and capabilities. These characteristics may include strong communication skills, the ability to work under pressure, empathy, and sufficient technical knowledge in the field of healthcare. Policymakers and managers should also have the necessary support for the nurses and play an effective role in empowering them by creating innovative and continuous training programs. Such training programs help improve the professional skills of volunteers and facilitate their empowerment to provide better quality services.