Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Dec 15, 2020
Date Accepted: Nov 18, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Community health programs delivered through information and communications technology in high-income countries: a scoping review
ABSTRACT
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic has required a widespread and rapid adoption of information and communications technology (ICT) platforms by health professionals. Transitioning health programs from face-to-face to remote delivery using ICT platforms, has introduced new challenges.
Objective:
The purpose of this review was to scope for ICT-delivered health programs implemented within the community health setting in high income countries, and rapidly disseminate findings to health professionals.
Methods:
The Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) scoping review methodology guided the review of literature.
Results:
The search retrieved 7110 unique citations. Each title and abstract were screened by at least two reviewers, resulting in 399 citations for full text review. Of these, 73 citations were included. An additional 27 citations were identified through reviewing reference lists of included studies resulting in 100 citations. Citations examined 84 ICT-delivered programs from 20 high-income countries. Variations in program design, ICT platforms, research design and outcomes were evident.
Conclusions:
Included programs and research were heterogenous, addressing prevalent chronic diseases. Evidence was retrieved for the effectiveness of nurse and allied health ICT-delivered programs. Findings indicated that outcomes for participants receiving ICT-delivered programs, when compared to participants receiving face-to-face programs, were either equivalent or better. Gaps included a paucity of co-designed programs, qualitative research around group programs, programs for patients and carers, and evaluation of cost-effectiveness. During COVID-19 and beyond, health professionals in the community health setting are encouraged to build on existing knowledge and address evidence gaps by developing and evaluating innovative ICT-delivered programs in collaboration with consumers and carers.
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.