Rehabilitation Workforce Interventions for Pressure Ulcer Prevention: A Scoping Review

Background: Pressure ulcers remain a prevalent and largely preventable adverse event across healthcare settings, particularly among people with impaired mobility and activity, and reduced self-care capacity. Although rehabilitation interventions address key risk factors for pressure ulcer development, their contributions are often implicit and fragmented in the literature. This review aims to systematically map rehabilitation interventions described in the literature for pressure ulcer prevention across healthcare settings. Methods: We conducted a scoping review following the Arksey and O’Malley framework and reported it according to PRISMA-ScR. Eight electronic databases were searched for studies published between 2015 and 2026 in English or Portuguese. Rehabilitation interventions aimed at preventing pressure ulcers were mapped and synthesised using Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Theory as an interpretive lens. Results: Eight records were included. Rehabilitation interventions spanned all three self-care systems and included repositioning, passive and active-assisted mobilisation, exercise prescription, electrical stimulation, pressure-relief manoeuvres, and education for individuals, caregivers, and professionals. Movement and activity enablement emerged as a prominent cross-cutting theme across systems, linking rehabilitation practice with transitions from dependence toward shared and autonomous self-care. Conclusions: Within multidimensional pressure ulcer prevention, this mapping identifies rehabilitation workforce interventions as an under-recognised component, contributing through movement enablement and fostering self-care capacity alongside other established preventive domains. Applying Orem’s theory highlights prevention as a dynamic, person-centred process. Given the small and heterogeneous evidence base and the absence of formal quality appraisal, these findings represent a mapping of potential contributions rather than evidence of effectiveness.