Community-based rehabilitation approach in older adult population: a scoping review protocol

The global population of individuals aged 60 years and older is growing rapidly, presenting multiple complex challenges, including frailty, cognitive decline, functional impairments, multimorbidity and polypharmacy. Consequently, addressing the rehabilitation needs of this age group poses significant difficulties in today's world. There is some evidence that community-based rehabilitation approaches can meet the unique rehabilitation needs of older individuals. Therefore, this scoping review aims to explore the application of community-based rehabilitation approaches for the older adult population.

This scoping review will follow the methodological framework outlined by Arksey and O'Malley. The search will be conducted using academic databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Embase, CINAHL and Web of Science, with the search terms 'community-based rehabilitation,' 'aged,' 'older,' 'elder' and 'geriatric'. Additionally, Google Scholar will be used to identify relevant literature. Publications in English from inception to January 2025 that explicitly address community-based rehabilitation programmes for older adults will be eligible. Inclusion criteria encompass studies reporting on CBR interventions, outcomes or implementation targeting older adults with disabilities or vulnerabilities, across diverse geographic and socioeconomic contexts. Both peer-reviewed articles and grey literature (eg, reports, guidelines, theses) will be considered. Studies focusing solely on clinical or institutional rehabilitation without community components will be excluded. The study selection process will occur in two stages, involving the participation of three reviewers. A data extraction form will be used to systematically extract data from all included studies.

This scoping review was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences (Code:IR.USWR.REC.1404.034), and the results will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.