Supportive interventions for preparation for future care of community-dwelling older adults: A scoping review

To identify and summarize the content and effectiveness of existing supportive interventions for preparation for future care of community-dwelling older adults.

A scoping review.

PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Wanfang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Chinese medical journal databases were used to identify studies alongside a search for grey literature, from inception to December 1, 2023.

In total, 530 records were retrieved. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria, with eight interventions. Two categories of interventions were highlighted: psycho-educational group and web-based decision support. The components included the introduction of preparation for future care, discussing resources, exploration of care preferences and identifying care planning. Outcomes were grouped into four: awareness and attitude towards preparation for future care, participation in preparation for future care, changes in mental health and well-being and feasibility and acceptability of interventions.

Few studies have investigated interventions that promote preparation for future care in community-dwelling older adults. These interventions, deemed acceptable and feasible, have shown promising results in improving awareness and attitude, and participation in future care preparation. Nevertheless, the impact on mental health appeared mixed.

Supportive interventions should be developed with feasibility and acceptability to improve awareness and participation in future care preparation for community-dwelling older adults.

This review lays a foundation for the pre-allocating of care resources, improving the quality of provided care and ultimately promoting healthy ageing.

Reporting was guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews.

No Patient or Public Contribution.

A protocol was registered on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/ze8wf).