JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Digital technologies are increasingly used in health research to collect real-world data from wider populations. A new wave of digital health studies relies primarily on digital technologies to conduct research entirely remotely. Remote digital health studies hold promise to significant cost and time advantages over traditional, in-person studies. However, such studies have been reported to typically suffer from participant attrition, the sources for which are still largely understudied.

Objective:

To contribute to future remote digital health study planning, we present a conceptual framework and hypotheses for study enrollment and completion from a person-centered lens. The framework introduces three criteria that affect remote digital health study outcomes: (a) participant motivation profile and incentives, (b) participant task complexity and (c) scientific requirements. The goal of this scoping review is to inform the planning and implementation of remote digital health studies from a person-centered perspective.

Methods:

We conducted a scoping review to collect information on participation in remote digital health studies, focusing on methodological aspects that affect participant enrollment and retention. Comprehensive searches were conducted on the PubMed, CINHAL and Web of Science databases, and additional sources were included in our study from citation sources.

Results:

We report findings from a scoping review that reveal high values of achieved participant enrollment based on target sample size calculations, 128% (IQR: 100-234%) and study completion, 48% (IQR 35-76%). Most studies provided incentives to participants (33/37, 89%) and around half of the studies (21/37, 57%) provided measures to reduce participant burden through passive data collection or by requiring participants to complete frequent, shorter tasks. Increased study enrollment and completion is observed for studies that provided incentives, targeted specific participant profiles for enrollment and reduced the complexity of tasks for participants.

Conclusions:

We find that future remote digital health study planning can benefit from targeting specific participant profiles, providing incentives or reducing study complexity at any stage to improve study outcomes. Future remote digital health study planning requires a focus on participant requirements, as well as broadening scientific requirements to increase participation in studies.