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Background Care homes are increasingly important settings for intervention research to enhance evidence-informed care. For such research to demonstrate effectiveness, it is essential that measures are appropriate for the population, setting and practice contexts. Objective To identify care home intervention studies and describe the resident outcome measures used. Design Scoping review. Methods We reviewed international care home research published from 2015 to August 2022. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and ASSIA. We included any intervention study conducted in a care home, reporting resident outcomes. We extracted resident outcome measures, organised these using the domains of an adapted framework and described their use. Results From 7,330 records screened, we included 396 datasets reported in 436 publications. These included 12,167 care homes and 836,842 residents, with an average of 80 residents per study. The studies evaluated 859 unique resident outcomes 2,030 times using 732 outcome measures. Outcomes were evaluated between 1 and 112 times, with 75.1% of outcomes evaluated only once. Outcome measures were used 1–120 times, with 68.4% of measures used only once. Only 14 measures were used ≥20 times. Functional status, mood & behaviour and medications were the commonest outcome domains assessed. More than half of outcomes were assessed using scales, with a fifth using existing records or administrative data. Conclusions There is significant heterogeneity in the choice and assessment of outcomes for intervention research in care homes. There is an urgent need to develop a consensus on useful and sensitive tools for care homes, working with residents, families and friends and staff.

Background: Mental health concerns in older adults are common, with increasing age‐related risks to physical health, mobility and social isolation. Community‐based approaches are a key focus of public health strategy in the UK, and may reduce the impact of these risks, protecting mental health and promoting wellbeing. We conducted a review of UK community‐based interventions to understand the types of intervention studied and mental health/wellbeing impacts reported. Method: We conducted a scoping review of the literature, systematically searching six electronic databases (2000–2020) to identify academic studies of any non‐clinical community intervention to improve mental health or wellbeing outcomes for older adults. Data were extracted, grouped by population targeted, intervention type, and outcomes reported, and synthesised according to a framework categorising community actions targeting older adults. Results: In total, 1,131 full‐text articles were assessed for eligibility and 54 included in the final synthesis. Example interventions included: link workers; telephone helplines; befriending; digital support services; group social activities. These were grouped into: connector services, gateway services/approaches, direct interventions and systems approaches. These interventions aimed to address key risk factors: loneliness, social isolation, being a caregiver and living with long‐term health conditions. Outcome measurement varied greatly, confounding strong evidence in favour of particular intervention types. Conclusion: The literature is wide‐ranging in focus and methodology. Greater specificity and consistency in outcome measurement are required to evidence effectiveness – no single category of intervention yet stands out as ‘promising’. More robust evidence on the active components of interventions to promote older adult's mental health is required.