Instruments for assessing the preferences for everyday living of older people with various care needs: protocol for an evidence map

IntroductionConsideration of the preferences for everyday living of older people with various care needs is a prerequisite for person-centred and evidence-based nursing care. Knowledge of and respect for these preferences by nursing staff are associated with better care outcomes for older people with various care needs. To assess preferences in a structured way, instruments focusing on different topics of everyday living appear to be useful. It is unclear which instruments exist for assessing preferences for everyday living. The aim of this planned review is to identify relevant instruments for assessing the preferences for everyday living of older people with various care needs in the form of an evidence map. Additionally, gaps requiring further research will be presented.Methods and analysisTo identify the different instruments, we will conduct a systematic search in the electronic databases MEDLINE (via PubMed), CINAHL and PsycINFO (via EBSCO). In addition, we will perform backward and forward citation tracking via reference lists and Google Scholar. The identified records will be independently screened (title/abstract and full text) by two reviewers. Data from the included studies will be extracted independently by the same two reviewers. In all three steps, the results will be checked for deviations, and if there are any deviations, they will be discussed. If no consensus can be achieved through discussion, a third reviewer will be engaged. All study designs will be included, and there will be no limitations regarding the publication status or time period. We will include all studies published in English and German that use instruments focusing on the assessment of preferences for everyday living in people older than 60 years of age with various care needs. For data charting, we will extract the number, categories and types of preferences, the care setting for which the instrument was developed and, if available, psychometric properties. Finally, the various extracted results will be presented in the form of tables and a bubble plot.Ethics and disseminationThere are no ethical concerns related to the construction of an evidence map, and ethical approval was given by the Witten/Herdecke University (application number 226/2020). We will discuss our results with practitioners in the field of nursing care and persons with various care needs. We will also make our results available to practitioners in an upcoming Project (PELI-D II) and to the public at (inter)national conferences and in the form of practice and peer-reviewed articles.