Nursing interventions to promote self-care in a candidate for a bowel elimination ostomy: scoping review

Objectives: To identify nursing interventions, their characteristics, and outcomes for promoting self-care in candidates for a bowel elimination ostomy. Materials and methods: A scoping review was carried out based on the Joanna Briggs Institute’s recommendations. For this, studies published in Portuguese, English, and Spanish on the Web of Science, CINAHL, and Scopus databases and without a time limit were selected on November 9, 2020. Results: Of 2248 articles identified, 41 were included in this review. We identified 20 nursing interventions associated with the self-care of patients with an ostomy; most of them have gaps in their content, method, and frequency or dosing. More than 30 indicators were identified to assess the impact of nursing interventions; however, most of them were indirect assessments. Conclusion: There is scarce evidence regarding the different aspects that must be involved in nursing interventions for patients with a stoma. Moreover, there is no standardization in methods, frequency, or dosing of intervention. It is urgent to define the content, method, and frequency of nursing interventions necessary to promote self-care in patients with a bowel elimination ostomy and to use assessment tools that directly measure stoma self-care competence.