JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Mobile Health CrowdSensing (MHCS) involves the use of mobile communication technologies to promote health by supporting health care practices (eg, health data collection, delivery of health care information, or patient observation and provision of care. MHCS technologies (e.g. smartphones) have sensory capabilities such as GPS, voice, light, camera to collect user-centred data (explicit and implicit), analyse and share. Current literature indicates no scientific study related to MHCS interventions for chronic disease. Cancer for example, has contributed to a large proportion of global deaths across every country irrespective of their developmental status. The proposed systematic review will examine the impact of MHCS interventions on chronic disease awareness.

Objective:

The objectives of this study are to identify and describe the various MHCS intervention strategies applied to chronic disease awareness.

Methods:

Literature from various databases such as MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CNTRAL) will be examined. Trial registers, reports, and unpublished academic theses will also be included. All mobile technologies such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, and tablets that have short message service, multimedia message service, video, and audio capabilities will be included. MHCS is the primary intervention strategy. The search strategy will include keywords such as “mHealth,” “CrowdSensing,” and “awareness” among other medical subject heading terms. Articles published from January 1, 1999 to December 31, 2019 will be eligible for inclusion. The authors will independently screen and select studies, extract data, and assess the risk of bias, with discrepancies resolved by an independent party not involved in the study. We will assess statistical heterogeneity by examining the types of participants, interventions, study designs, and outcomes in each study, and pool studies judged to be statistically homogeneous. In the assessment of heterogeneity, a sensitivity analysis will be considered to explore statistical heterogeneity. Statistical heterogeneity will be investigated using the Chi-square test of homogeneity on Cochrane's Q statistic and quantified using the I-squared statistic.

Results:

As of August 2020, a preliminary literature query search using key terms was conducted and yielded few items. Further literature search will commence in mid-October 2020 to December 2020. Data extraction and capturing in Review Manager (RevMan, Version 5.3) will commence in January 2021 to end in February 2021. The final stages will include analyses and writing, which is anticipated to start in March 2021.

Conclusions:

The knowledge derived from this study will inform health care stakeholders, including researchers, policy makers, investors, health professionals, technologists, and engineers, on the impact of MHCS interventions on chronic disease awareness. Clinical Trial: PROSPERO registration number - CRD42020161435