Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 19, 2020
Open Peer Review Period: Nov 19, 2020 - Jan 14, 2021
Date Accepted: Oct 15, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Nov 25, 2021
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Do digital technologies enhance older people’s access to health and social care: an umbrella review.
ABSTRACT
Background:
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic prompted rapid implementation of new and existing digital technologies to facilitate access to health and care services during physical distancing. Older people may be disadvantaged, if they are unable to use or access smartphones, tablets, computers, or other technologies.
Objective:
In this study, we synthesise evidence on the impact of digital technologies on older adults’ access to health and social services.
Methods:
We conducted an umbrella review of systematic reviews, identified using comprehensive searches of six databases (January 2000 to October 2019). We looked for reviews in a population of adults aged ≥ 65 years in any setting, reporting outcomes related to the impact of technologies on access to health and social care services.
Results:
Seven systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria, providing data from 77 randomised controlled trials and 50 observational studies. All synthesised findings from low-quality primary studies, two using robust review methods. Most reviews focussed on digital technologies to facilitate remote delivery of care, including consultations and therapy. No studies examined technologies used for first contact access to care, such as online appointment scheduling. Overall, we found no reviews of technology to facilitate first contact access to health and social care such as online appointment booking systems for older populations.
Conclusions:
The impact of digital technologies on equitable access to services for older people is unclear. Research is urgently needed into the positive and negative consequences, with identification of the groups most vulnerable to exclusion.
Citation
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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.