Self-Care Among Vulnerable Migrants Along Mediterranean and Western Balkan Migration Routes: A Theory-Informed Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.

AIM: To identify and synthesize self-care behaviours among vulnerable migrants, defined as individuals exposed to structural barriers, instability, fragmented care, and increased health risks, along Mediterranean and Western Balkan migration routes, and to map these behaviours onto the domains of self-care maintenance, monitoring, and management described in Riegel's Middle-Range Theory of Self-Care.

DESIGN

A mixed-methods systematic review using a convergent integrated approach.

METHODS

Searches were conducted from inception to 11 June 2026 in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost (CINAHL, APA PsycArticles, APA PsycInfo, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection). Self-care behaviours were identified inductively and mapped onto Riegel's domains.

RESULTS

Thirty-seven studies were included. Maintenance was the most extensively represented domain and was shaped by family, cultural, and religious contexts. Monitoring was less represented and included instrument-, symptom-, and screening-based practices. Management combined biomedical, self-directed, traditional, spiritual, and relational responses.

CONCLUSION

Self-care among vulnerable migrants extends beyond individual behaviours and is shaped by relational, cultural, social, and structural conditions across maintenance, monitoring, and management.

REPORTING METHOD: PRISMA statement.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: Nursing care should recognize self-care as relational and structurally shaped, extending beyond individual education to patients' social contexts.

IMPACT: This review examines migrant self-care in migration contexts, highlighting the extensive representation of maintenance behaviours and the comparatively limited representation of monitoring. Findings support more context-sensitive nursing care and policy.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No Patient or Public Contribution. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER CONTRIBUTE TO THE WIDER GLOBAL CLINICAL COMMUNITY?: Reframes migrant self-care as relational and context-dependent. Identifies gaps in existing self-care frameworks in capturing structural and relational dimensions.