Process of pain assessment in people with dementia living in nursing homes: a scoping review protocol

INTRODUCTION: Pain is a common symptom in people with dementia; untreated, it reduces quality of life and causes suffering. People with dementia living in nursing homes most often have dementia in moderate to severe stages. The cognitive impairment, including language and communication difficulties, challenges pain assessment. Since pain is a subjective experience, self-reporting is the gold standard of assessment methods. Healthcare professionals are advised to help people with dementia communicate about their pain. The proposed scoping review is the first step in the development of a systematic pain assessment model for people with dementia living in nursing homes. The scoping review aims to identify, categorise and summarise knowledge on how pain assessment processes in this population are described in the literature, with a special focus on self-reporting. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The scoping review will be conducted following the six-stage framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley, in addition to recent methodological developments. Systematic searches in CINAHL, Embase, Medline and PsycInfo will be conducted. The protocol follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklists, and the scoping review will adhere to the PRISMA-ScR checklist. The review will include research that concerns assessment of pain in people with dementia living in nursing homes. Studies will be evaluated for quality and ethical standards. The analysis process will follow Bradbury-Jones et al’s PAGER framework. Patterns will be formed using thematic analysis. An overview of advances, gaps, evidence for practice and research recommendations associated with each pattern will be prepared. The research questions and results will be presented to and discussed in a reference group comprising nursing home residents, relatives, healthcare professionals and nursing home managers. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The scoping review aims to collect and summarise data from available publications and does not require ethical approval. The final manuscript will be submitted to a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. REGISTRATION IN OPEN SCIENCE FRAMEWORK: https://osf.io/8kaf5/