Previously submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols (no longer under consideration since Sep 23, 2021)
Date Submitted: Aug 4, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Use and effectiveness of mHealth technologies in tracking the spread of infectious disease outbreaks and their implications for the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review protocol
ABSTRACT
Background:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines mHealth as medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices. A number of mHealth devices, primarily apps designed to support contact tracing, have been utilised as part of the public health response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The value of mHealth devices in augmenting public health practice is however yet to be defined.
Objective:
The study aims to address three research questions: (1) What digital technologies are being used to track the symptoms and spread of infectious disease outbreaks and what strategies do they use to do so? (2) How effective and cost-effective are digital technologies at tracking the spread of infectious disease outbreaks and what are their strengths and limitations? (3) What are the user perspectives on the usability and effectiveness of these technologies?
Methods:
The PICOS template and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols (PRISMA-P) will be followed for this systematic review. The review will be composed of a literature search, article selection, data extraction, quality appraisal, data analysis, and a discussion of the implications of the data for the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Results:
N/A
Conclusions:
This systematic review will summarise the available evidence for use of mHealth devices for tracking the spread of infectious disease outbreaks. These results are potentially valuable for informing public health policy during infectious disease outbreaks such as the current Covid-19 pandemic.
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