Care planning interventions for care home residents: a scoping review

Context: Previous reviews of care planning (CP) interventions in care homes focus on higher
quality research methodologies and exclusively consider advanced care planning (ACP), thereby
excluding many intervention-based studies that could inform current practice. CP is concerned
with residents’ current circumstances while ACP focuses on expressing preferences which relate
to future care decisions.


Objectives: To identify, map, and summarise studies reporting CP interventions for older people
in care homes.


Methods: Seven electronic databases were searched from 1 January 2012 until 1 January 2022.
Studies of CP interventions, targeted at older people (>60 years) whose primary place of
residence was a care home, were eligible for inclusion. Two reviewers independently screened
the titles and abstracts of 3,778 articles. Following a full text review of 404 articles, data from
112 eligible articles were extracted using a predefined data extraction form.


Findings: Studies were conducted in 25 countries and the majority of studies took place in the
USA, Australia, and the UK. Most interventions occurred within nursing homes (61%, 68/112).
More than 90% of interventions (93%, 104/112) targeted staff, and training was the most
common focus (80%, 83/104), although only one included training for ancillary staff (such as
cleaners and caterers). Only a third of studies (35%, 39/112) involved family and friends, and
62% (69/112) described interventions to improve CP practices through multiple means.
Limitations: Only papers written in English were included and so potentially relevant studies
may have been omitted.


Implications: Two groups of people – ancillary workers and family and friends – who could play
a valuable role in CP, were often not included in CP interventions. These oversights should be
addressed in future research.