Humanized and Community-Based Nursing for Geriatric Care: Impact, Clinical Contributions, and Implementation Barriers

Background: As global populations age, the demand for effective and compassionate geriatric care has intensified. Humanized nursing emphasizes empathy and person-centered care, while community-based nursing builds on local resources and networks to support health and well-being. Together, these approaches offer promising strategies for improving care for older adults. This integrative review explores the evolution, clinical contributions, and implementation barriers of these models. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed using PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science, targeting peer-reviewed studies, including qualitative and quantitative studies published between 2010 and 2025, that involved adults aged 60 years and older. Inclusion criteria emphasized humanized and community-based nursing interventions while excluding non-nursing and pediatric-focused studies. Quality appraisal was performed using CASP and JBI checklists, and data were thematically synthesized. Results: Evidence indicates that these care models significantly improve functional independence and psychosocial well-being and reduce hospital readmissions. For instance, community-based care in Taiwan improved activities of daily living in dementia patients by 15%, while U.S.-based programs reduced depressive symptoms by 30% among Latino older adults. Interdisciplinary, nurse-led interventions in South Korea and Puerto Rico showed a 22% reduction in readmissions and an 85% increase in care access. Despite these benefits, numerous barriers hinder widespread implementation, including workforce shortages, inadequate funding, fragmented healthcare systems, cultural resistance, digital literacy challenges, and policy constraints, particularly in low-resource settings such as the Philippines and Nepal. Conclusions: These findings underscore the transformative potential of humanized and community-based nursing while highlighting the need for targeted strategies such as task-shifting, inclusive technologies, and policy reform to advance equitable, sustainable geriatric care globally.