Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Mar 17, 2021
Date Accepted: Feb 28, 2022
Patient-Generated Health Photos and Videos Across Health and Wellbeing Contexts: A Scoping Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Patient-generated health data (PGHD) are increasingly used to improve health outcomes and to engage and empower patients in clinical care. Patient-generated photographs and videos in particular are accessible and meaningful to patients, which make them especially relevant during the current COVID-19 pandemic to provide ongoing care. However, a systematic review of photos and videos used by patients across different health areas seems to be lacking.
Objective:
This review aimed to synthesize the existing literature on the uses, values and challenges with patient-generated photos and videos for health and wellbeing.
Methods:
Guided by a framework for scoping reviews, we searched 8 health databases (CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science) and 1 computing database (ACM), returning a total of 28,567 studies. After removing duplicates and screening based on predefined inclusion criteria, we identified 117 relevant articles. These articles were analysed following an iterative thematic approach with the assistance of NVivo 12 software.
Results:
Patient-generated photos and videos are used across a wide range of health areas, most prominently to capture information relevant to nutritional and metabolic diseases (40/117 articles), skin diseases and neoplasms (30/117) and mental health (18/117). Photos and videos create significant value for healthcare, most notably functional value (61/117), where images support diagnosis, explanation, and treatment, and transactional value (22/117) by enriching interactions between patients and healthcare professionals. Photos also provide value directly to patients through enhanced self-determination (40/117), social (30/117) and emotional support (22/117). However, several challenges emerge when patients create, share, and examine photos and videos. The most commonly reported challenges are limited accessibility (17/117), incomplete photo sets (22/117), poor photo quality (16/117), and misinformation through photos and videos shared on social media (17/117).
Conclusions:
This review shows that photos and videos are engaging patients in meaningful ways across different health areas. While photos and videos require work and involve challenges for patients, they are also engaging and empowering patients in their own care and generating unique value. This review highlights areas for future research to explore health areas that can benefit from engaging patients through photos and videos, as well as further research to address the challenges identified.
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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.