[Palliative rehabilitation interventions in palliative care: a scoping review]

Palliative rehabilitation is defined as the process of helping a person with a progressive, commonly advanced, and/or incurable disease reach their physical, psychological, and social potential consistent with physiological and environmental limitations and life preferences. However, the evidence on this subject is dispersed in the literature.

To examine and map interventions of palliative rehabilitation, implemented and evaluated in palliative care.

A scoping review, using the Joanna Briggs Institute's guideline, was conducted. Multiple databases were searched: CINAHL Complete; PubMed; Scopus; SciELO; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; PEDro, as well as grey literature for studies that focus on qualified healthcare professionals caring for patients 18 years of age or older, working in palliative care, that focus on the concepts of palliative rehabilitation interventions.

Of the 314 studies retrieved, two were included in this review. Both were conducted with physiotherapists, and none mentioned nursing rehabilitation. One of the studies implemented and evaluated an intervention of exclusively physical domain and another of physical and emotional domain. The interventions still differ in the number of treatments which ranged from 4 to 7 sessions. Both studies were implemented in oncological and non-oncological patients.

Further research is needed to explore the rehabilitation strategies used by healthcare professionals working in palliative care that help patients. Moreover, since nurses are often the healthcare professionals who are in closest proximity to, and who spend the most time with, the patient, which rehabilitation interventions do these professionals should be focus of intervention.