Coaching for informal caregivers of persons living with dementia: a scoping review protocol

This scoping review will describe dementia coaching programs, models, and practices for unpaid caregivers of community-dwelling persons living with dementia.

Unpaid caregivers of community-dwelling individuals with dementia often experience significant physical and emotional stress due to the complex nature of caregiving, yet many lack access to support tailored to their needs. Dementia coaching has emerged as a potential solution offering personalized guidance to help caregivers set goals, build coping strategies, and manage care responsibilities. However, wide variation in how dementia coaching is defined and delivered has created uncertainty around its implementation. A scoping review is needed to map the current landscape; identify existing programs, models, and practices; and highlight gaps in the literature to inform future service development.

This scoping review will include qualitative studies, quantitative studies, mixed methods studies, guidelines, policies, opinion papers, and gray literature on dementia coaching for unpaid caregivers of community-dwelling individuals with dementia, with no restrictions on language or publication date.

This review will follow the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Published literature will be located using MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL with Full-Text (EBSCOhost), APA PsycINFO (EBSCOhost), ERIC (EBSCOhost), Abstracts in Social Gerontology (EBSCOhost), and Scopus. References of included studies will be hand-searched and gray literature identified via ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest), Google Scholar, Google, and relevant dementia- and caregiver-related websites. Two reviewers will independently screen and extract data, with a third resolving any discrepancies. Findings will be presented through narrative summaries, tables, charts, and publications.

OSF https://osf.io/u6vj8.