Population ageing and the rise in chronic diseases are driving a shift from residential models to home care where family carers play a key role. Although education programmes have shown benefits, limited attention has been paid to how family caregivers can be effectively trained to prevent unintentional mistakes in home care and to how they should be prepared to respond to them related to the care they provide.
This scoping review aims to examine education programmes that enhance family caregivers’ knowledge and skills to promote safe home care, prevent unintentional mistakes and mitigate their impact on both care recipients and family caregivers.
This study follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) methodology for scoping reviews.
Comprehensive searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus and Embase in April 2024.
The review included studies on family caregivers in home-based care, focusing on education programmes promoting safe practices; quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods designs were eligible while studies on professional care or unrelated to home safety were excluded.
Extracted data included study characteristics, education type, target population and safety-related outcomes, which were summarised descriptively to map the available evidence.
31 studies on home safety education programmes for family caregivers across oncological, neurological, chronic and paediatric conditions were identified, mostly from the USA and conducted in hospital, home and other health and care facilities. Randomised controlled trials predominated and were generally high quality. Education programmes targeting technical, daily living and self-care skills improved caregiver burden, knowledge, preparedness and quality of life although physical health outcomes showed limited change.
Evidence indicates that structured education programmes enhance family caregivers’ knowledge, preparedness, competence and psychological well-being, supporting safer home care. While current education programmes are mostly short-term and caregiver-centred, this review identifies core technical, daily life and self-care competencies to guide future education programmes, highlighting the need for co-designed, rigorously evaluated education programmes that include patient safety outcomes and caregiver emotional support.