Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Informal Carer Experiences of Older Adult Care Transitions From Hospital to Home: A Scoping Review.
Yaping Zhong, Aislinn Lalor, Nikos Thomacos and 8 others
PMID 40679188WHAT IT FOUND
Culturally and linguistically diverse family carers often faced language barriers, were left out of discharge planning, and were unprepared for wound care, medication and symptom monitoring.
Some interventions helped carers, but support was often not tailored to culture.
Key findings
01CALD carers often could not understand discharge instructions or medication information because language barriers and cultural differences were not adequately addressed.
02Carers were frequently excluded from discharge planning and left unprepared for medical tasks such as medication management, wound care and symptom monitoring.
03Multi-component transitional care programmes showed mixed effects: some improved preparedness, anxiety or follow-up attendance, but did not consistently reduce depression, strain or service use.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review did not appraise study quality, so it cannot tell which included studies are more reliable. Only English-language publications were searched, which may miss relevant work. No subgroup analysis by ethnicity was possible, so findings cannot be separated by cultural or language group. Many included studies had at least 50% culturally and linguistically diverse carers, but not all carers were from these backgrounds, so generalisability is limited. Studies came from the US, Canada, the UK and Thailand, with different health systems and cultural contexts. The intervention programmes contained several components, so any effect cannot be attributed to one part.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Funding was named as the National Centre for Healthy Ageing. The paper does not say whether the funder designed or wrote the review.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that any intervention works. It is a scoping review without quality appraisal, and the included programmes were multi-component, so effects cannot be attributed to one element.