Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Aug 1, 2022
Date Accepted: Aug 30, 2022
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Environmental Scan of Existing eHealth Solutions for Older Adults living with Neurocognitive Disorders (Mild and Major) or Dementia and their Informal Caregivers: Protocol
ABSTRACT
Background:
Dementia is one of the main public health priorities for current and future societies worldwide. Over the past years, eHealth solutions have added numerous promising solutions to enhance the health and wellness of people living with dementia-related cognitive problems, and their primary caregivers. Previous studies show that an environmental scan identifies the knowledge-to-action gap meaningfully. This paper presents the protocol of an environmental scan to monitor the currently available eHealth solutions targeting dementia and other neurocognitive disorders against selected attributes.
Objective:
This study aims to identify the characteristics of currently available eHealth solutions recommended for older adults with cognitive problems and their informal caregivers. To inform recommendations regarding eHealth solutions for these people, it is important to get a comprehensive view of currently available technologies and document their outcomes and conditions of success.
Methods:
We will perform an environmental scan of available eHealth solutions for older adults with cognitive impairment or dementia and their informal caregivers. Potential solutions will be initially identified from a previous systematic review. We will also conduct targeted searches for grey literature on Google and specialized websites covering the regions of Canada and Europe.
Results:
Technological tools will be scanned based on a preformatted extraction grid. We will assess their relevance and efficiency based on selected attributes. We will then prioritize relevant solutions based on the needs and preferences identified from a qualitative study among older adults with cognitive impairment or dementia and their informal caregivers.
Conclusions:
This environmental scan will identify eHealth solutions that are currently available and scientifically appraised for older adults with cognitive impairment or dementia and their informal caregivers. This knowledge will inform the development of a decision support tool to assist older adults and their informal caregivers in their search for adequate eHealth solutions according to their needs and preferences, based on trustable information.
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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.