Instruments for assessing loneliness in older people in Portugal: a Scoping Review protocol

Review question / Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to map the instruments validate for the Portuguese older population (65+ years old) that assess loneliness; and to identify their psychometric properties and contexts where they have been in use. The questions for this scoping review are: What are the validated instruments for Portugal that assess loneliness in the older individuals? What are the psychometric properties of those instruments? In which contexts were the loneliness assessment instruments used? Eligibility criteria: Participants – This scoping review will consider all studies that included older adults with 65 years and over. Concept – This review will be included studies that assess loneliness or cover loneliness by validated instruments that address different dimensions, including, but not limited to, emotional or social. Context – This scoping review will consider studies that used validated instruments the loneliness in Portuguese older adults including, but not limited to the context of community, intermediate care, long-term care or acute care. Types of sources - This scoping review will consider quantitative and mixed-method studies. In the quantitative designs include experimental, quasi-experimental, observational and analytical observational studies including prospective and retrospective cohort studies, case-control studies, and analytical cross-sectional studies will be considered for inclusion. This review will also consider descriptive observational study designs including case series, individual case reports, and descriptive cross-sectional studies for inclusion.