Background: Pain is a common symptom in people with dementia living in nursing homes, but cognitive impairment, including language and communication difficulties, challenges pain assessment and the ability to self-report pain.Objectives: This study aimed to identify and summarize patterns, advances, and gaps in research literature describing pain assessment in people with dementia living in nursing homes.Design: We conducted a scoping review following Arksey and O'Malley's methodological framework.Methods: Systematic searches were conducted in CINAHL, Embase, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO. We included studies describing pain expressions in people with dementia and/or healthcare personnel assessment of pain in people with dementia, in a nursing home context. Charted data included demographics, methodological descriptions, ethical and quality assessment and relevant findings. Relevant findings were summarized using thematic analysis, and an overview of patterns, advances, and gaps in the research literature is presented.Results: Thirty-nine studies were included. The results describe three patterns: (1) pain awareness; (2) suspected pain and (3) pain mapping. Collectively, these patterns constitute a process of pain assessment, integrating pain expressions of people with dementia. Important perspectives on self-reporting are touched upon in several of the included studies, though direct descriptions of attempts to capture the residents' own experience of pain are sparse.Conclusion: This scoping review provides a comprehensive description of pain assessment in people with dementia living in nursing homes as a process in three steps. We identified several knowledge gaps in the understanding of this process and provide concrete recommendations for further research. The results underpin the importance of pain assessment approaches that incorporate the flexibility to meet residents' varying and potentially fluctuating ways of communicating pain.Trial registration: This scoping review is registered in the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/8kaf5/).

The literature on pain management for people with dementia in nursing homes places significant emphasis on the limitations dementia imposes on their ability to describe and express their pain. Little is known about how healthcare personnel can support and use the individual resources people with dementia have in pain management. Thus, this study aimed to explore pain management in people with dementia in nursing homes, focusing on the resources people with dementia have and how healthcare personnel can support and integrate these resources into their clinical practice. We applied an exploratory design with a focused ethnographic approach and collected data through participatory observations and field conversations, as well as notes from residents' medical charts. The study setting was a nursing home unit specializing in dementia care in a larger city in Norway. The study included residents with moderate- to severe stage dementia (n = 18) and nurses caring for them (n = 12). The data were analysed in line with qualitative content analysis. The analysis identified two categories: (a) Residents' pain narratives and (b) Nurses' interpretation and support. Within each category, several subcategories were identified. The categories are linked together in one overarching, latent theme describing how people with dementia express themselves in the moment and nurses integrate these moments into a coherent whole. Findings also indicate that people with dementia have individual resources and strengths that are important for pain management. With support from healthcare personnel, they can be active participants in pain management processes, in accordance with their individual abilities.