JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Despite the growing body of work in digital health innovations, it is unclear how digital health innovations have been implemented and evaluated.

Objective:

This scoping review aims to evaluate the implementation of digital health innovations for chronic disease management, through the lens of implementation science.

Methods:

We used JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Five databases were searched for literature published between January 2015 and March 2023: PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and IEEE Xplore. We included primary studies of any study design with any type of digital health innovations for chronic diseases that benefit either patients, caregivers, and/or healthcare professionals directly.

Results:

Of the 252 studies included, only 23 (9·1%) used implementation science frameworks to aid the development or selection of strategies. In most studies, target users generally found digital health to be acceptable and feasible, with high adoption and implementation fidelity reported. Successful implementation across digital health innovations were enabled by training for healthcare workers and personalization of digital health features to patient needs. Key barriers impacting widespread implementation were privacy concerns and patient preference for in-person consultations.

Conclusions:

This review conducted through the lens of implementation science generated actionable findings for future real-world implementation of digital health innovations.