Interventions and Implementation Strategies for Preventing Occupational Contact Dermatitis: A Scoping Review

Numerous preventive measures for occupational contact dermatitis (OCD) have been evaluated, but their effectiveness varies, suggesting that contextual factors and corresponding implementation strategies are important. This scoping review aimed to identify preventive interventions for OCD and explore their implementation strategies and outcomes. We searched five databases (January 2000-May 2024) for studies on preventive interventions, scoping intervention content and implementation strategies. In total, 111 articles describing 79 interventions were included, which involved components of education, personal protective equipment, skin care, workplace adaptations and combinations. Most studies were conducted among healthcare workers, hairdressers or in mixed occupations. Implementation strategies targeted individual workers with educational sessions, individual advice or consults, organisations with participatory working groups, role models or communication tools, and facilitated clinical dermatological care. Implementation outcomes were reported for 11 programs. All reported appropriateness and 10 reported acceptability to be positive. Adoption, feasibility, fidelity (adherence), costs, penetration (reach) and sustainability of preventive intervention implementation were assessed in a limited number of programs. Overall, limited evidence precluded firm conclusions on implementation outcomes. To strengthen prevention, systematic evaluation of implementation outcomes is needed.