Self-care-related safety for seniors living at home: a systematic review: Systematic review protocol.

Objectives The objective of this systematic review is to identify the range of safety issues and experiences of safety issues that arise for seniors living independently in the community with respect to therapeutic self‐care and personal self‐care. Questions 1. What are the potential safety issues for seniors who engage in self‐care in their home community setting? 2. What are the potential safety issues related to activities of daily living? 3. Is there a distinction between adverse events resulting from therapeutic self‐care and selfcare related to activities of daily living in this population? 4. What is the experience of seniors living at home in dealing with adverse events resulting from self‐care behaviours? Inclusion Criteria Types of participants This systematic review will consider studies that address community‐dwelling seniors (65 years of age and older) who live alone or with others, but who have the capacity to and do engage in self‐care. Although studies may include younger participants, the average age of participants should be 65 years and older. Data from studies may be collected from seniors themselves, family members, formal and informal caregivers, including healthcare practitioners or from community organizations. Includes seniors who may have ongoing or occasional assistance with therapeutic or personal care, but who are able to direct such care. Data generated from studies of institutional settings or from those who are unable to direct their care because of impaired cognition will be excluded. Types of intervention This systematic review will focus on safety issues for seniors who engage in self‐care behaviours that are related to therapeutic regimes or daily living activities. The phenomena addressed in qualitative studies will be the experience of seniors living at home in dealing with adverse events resulting from self‐care behaviours. Types of outcomes Outcomes of interest for this study include: the occurrence of illness, accidents or adverse events related to self‐care; the nature of the adverse event; the impact of this adverse event on the health/well‐being of the individual and/or family/caregivers; the capacity of individuals/family to recognize adverse events when they occur; the capacity of individuals to deal with adverse events.