[Rehabilitation with active participation of nursing staff in residential long-term care : A scoping review]

Geriatric rehabilitation can reduce care dependency in old age. To complement the clinical rehabilitation, some countries have developed rehabilitative approaches for long-term care facilities in which nursing personnel play an active role; however, a comprehensive review of these approaches and their effects is lacking.

The aims of this scoping review are to identify rehabilitative approaches in nursing homes involving active participation of nursing personnel and to summarize the effects that have been reported to date.

A literature search was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Studies examining the effects of rehabilitative approaches in long-term care facilities with active involvement of nursing personnel were included.

A total of 27 studies were included. The investigated target groups and outcomes were heterogeneous. Most rehabilitative interventions focused on training activities of daily living and were carried out by nursing personnel with varying levels of qualification. In some studies positive effects were reported for self-care, mobility, depressive symptoms and individual goal attainment. Most studies had methodological limitations and there were also indications of low motivation to participate in rehabilitative interventions.

The limited evidence for the effectiveness of rehabilitative approaches in long-term care is attributable not only to methodological limitations but also to the limited acceptance of rehabilitation among older people and problems in addressing such reservations. Future research should consider these factors and investigate strategies to promote the rehabilitative potential of nursing homes.