Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Barriers to, and enablers of, use of information and communication technology (ICT) for supporting the care of chronic diseases of ageing: a systematic scoping review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Information and communication technology (ICT) offer considerable potential for supporting older adults to manage their health, including chronic health conditions. However, there are mixed opinions about the benefits and effectiveness of using ICT in healthcare for older adults.
Objective:
We aimed to (i) map the use of ICT for the management of chronic diseases in older adults, and (ii) identify barriers to, and challenges for, its use among older adults.
Methods:
A scoping review was conducted using four databases (Ovid Medline, Embase, Scopus, and PsycInfo) to identify eligible articles from January 2000 to July 2020. Publications incorporating the use of ICT (e-health, mHealth, telehealth, decision support systems, remote monitoring, and mobile apps) in people aged >55 years with chronic conditions were included. We conducted a ‘strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)’ framework analysis to explore implied enablers of, and barriers to, using ICT in healthcare.
Results:
Of the 286 articles identified, 23 articles (n=4122 participants) met the inclusion criteria. A range of technologies were reported, including: electronic Health (n=5), mobile Health (n=6), telehealth (n=6); mobile applications (n=2), or mixed ICT platforms (n=4). The range of chronic conditions included congestive heart failure (n=9), diabetes (n=7), chronic respiratory disease (n=6), and mental health (n=5). ICT initiatives were all designed to help people self-manage chronic diseases with minimal support from healthcare providers or clinics. Among all the included studies, ICT demonstrated positive effects. Investigators highlighted operational and implementation challenges for integrating health ICT systems in routine practices. Barriers to using ICT in older adults included knowledge gap, lack of willingness to adopt new skills, and reluctance to use health technologies. ICT implementation-related challenges such as slow internet connectivity and lack of the appropriate reimbursement policy were reported. We also identified a list of enablers for using ICT, which could help design mitigation strategies.
Conclusions:
ICT has the potential to support the care of chronic diseases among older adults, but its integration with routine healthcare is lacking. There is a need to improve awareness and education about ICT among those who could benefit from such initiatives, including older adults, caregivers, and healthcare providers. For promoting ICT adoption, more sustainable funding is required. We recommend involving clinicians and caregivers at the time of designing ICT initiatives. Clinical Trial: Not applicable
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.