Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Apr 7, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 7, 2023 - Jun 2, 2023
Date Accepted: Jun 16, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
What factors can facilitate the uptake of digital therapeutics within a health system? A scoping review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital therapeutics are patient-facing digital health interventions that can significantly alter the healthcare landscape, though their uptake remains limited.
Objective:
In this article, we aimed to map what factors determine the integration of digital therapeutics into health systems and practical use by patients and professionals.
Methods:
A scoping review was conducted in Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Google Scholar. Relevant data were extracted and synthesised using a thematic analysis.
Results:
We identified 35541 academic and 221 grey literature reports, with 243 included in the review, covering 35 countries. Eighty-five factors that can impact the uptake of digital therapeutics were extracted and pooled into five categories: (a) policy and system, (b) patient characteristics, (c) properties of digital therapeutics, (d) characteristics of health professionals, and (e) outcomes. The need for a regulatory framework for digital therapeutics was the most stated factor at the policy level. Demographic characteristics formed the most iterated patient-related factor, while digital literacy was considered the most important for health professionals. Among the properties of digital therapeutics, their interoperability across the broader health system was most emphasised. Finally, the ability to expand access to healthcare was the most frequently stated outcome measure.
Conclusions:
Ultimately, the map of uptake factors provides insight into the building blocks to implement sustainable digital therapeutics strategies and policies.
Citation
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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.