Scoping review of the self-neglect assessment tools for the elderly

CHEN Yiwan; CHEN Ling; GAO Hui

doi:10.3969/j.issn.2096-9058.2026.01.015

Abstract：Objective Summarize the self-neglect assessment tools for the elderly both at home and abroad to pro‐vide a selection reference for medical staff in choosing appropriate assessment tools for the self-neglect of the elderly.Methods PubMed,CINAHL,Embase,Web of Science,The Cochrane Library,CNKI,Wanfang,VIP,and CBM were systematically searched to cllect the literatures about the self-neglect assessment tools of the elderly.The search period ranged from the establishment of each database to April 1,2025.Two researchers independently screened the literature,extractied and analyzed the data.Results A total of 18 articles were included,which involved 18 assessment tools for self-neglect among the elderly.Among them,16 articles were about the development and validation of the assessment tools,and 2 articles were about the localized application of the assessment tools.The assessment content mainly focused on personal hygiene,environment,and health care.The 18 assessment tools showed good reliability,but most of them did not report the validity.It was recommended to further verify the reliability and validity before clinical application.Conclu-sions Self-neglect assessment tools for the elderly each have their own characteristics,but the assessment contents are not comprehensive,and their clinical application value is limited.They still need to be further improved.Medical staff should,in light of the actual situation,reasonably draw on,quote or develop assessment tools to accurately identify self-ne‐glect of the elderly at an early stage.