Human rights of residents in the nursing home sector: A rapid review of the evidence.

Background: Human rights are rights and freedoms that all people should enjoy. People should be treated with fairness, respect, equality and dignity. Within nursing/residential care settings, complying with human rights entitles and empowers residents with fundamental rights and freedoms in decisions about their care and support. Aim: To review the evidence about systems or models of upholding human rights in nursing homes globally. Method: A rapid review method was utilised, streamlining or omitting specific systematic review methods to produce evidence for stakeholders in a resource-efficient manner. Results: The screening of evidence identified 86 peer-reviewed publications for inclusion in this rapid review. The PRISMA diagram in Figure 1 outlines the screening process. The papers were divided into the main themes of: Autonomy, Freedom of Movement (FoM), Quality of life (QoL), Dignity, Restraint, Spirituality, Sexual expression, Elder abuse, and Elder care. Discussion: The review highlighted that human rights in older people in nursing homes is well researched in terms of reviews and qualitative work, with some cross-sectional studies of relevance and some randomised controlled trials published within the 20-year timeframe of this rapid review (2004-2024). Dignity and respect are the cornerstones of nursing care among residents of nursing homes which require effective communication and a good nurturing environment to be able to live as comfortably as possible in nursing homes during the final stage of their life. Conclusion: This rapid evidence review will enable a guiding approach which will empower care providers to better apply human rights principles into their practice.