JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Health recommender systems (HRSs) are information retrieval systems that provide users with relevant items according to the users’ needs, which can motivate and engage users to change their behavior.

Objective:

The aim of this scoping review was to give an overview of the state of the evidence on implementation and the gaps of HRSs and create an evidence map.

Methods:

We conducted a systematic literature review according to the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines and synthesized the results. Six databases were searched to identify HRSs reported in studies from inception to June 1, 2021 followed by forward citation and gray literature searches. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were screened independently by two reviewers, with discrepancies resolved by a third when necessary. Data extraction was performed by one reviewer and checked by a second reviewer.

Results:

A total of 46 studies were included for data extraction. Recommended items were classified into four major categories: general health promotion, lifestyle, generic health service and other domains. A total of 22 studies have reported the use of hybrid recommendation systems, which are the most commonly used recommender techniques in HRSs. A total of 28 studies reported the user interface of HRSs, and most HRSs work on users’ mobile interfaces, usually through a mobile app. Two categories of HRS evaluations were used, and evaluations of HRSs vary greatly. Half of the studies only evaluated the algorithm with various metrics, whereas only a few studies reported assessments involving users to evaluate HRSs.

Conclusions:

Through this scoping review, nonmedical professionals and policymakers can visualize and better understand HRSs in future studies. HRS has been increasingly used in recent years, but there are many unique challenges associated with HRS. There is a lack of scientific evidence in user-centered evaluation approaches, and some other metric parameters vary in HRSs. Further studies should be proposed pertaining to HRS in other therapeutic areas apart from lifestyle and generic health services.