Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jul 9, 2024
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 24, 2024 - Aug 19, 2024
Date Accepted: Jun 26, 2025
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Examining the Influence of Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors on Disparities in Healthcare Apps Usage: Protocol for a Systematic Scoping Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
The rapid proliferation of healthcare apps has transformed healthcare delivery, providing patients with unprecedented access to medical information and services. These apps facilitate remote consultations, appointment scheduling, medication reminders, and health monitoring, enhancing patient engagement and improving health outcomes. Despite the widespread benefits, disparities in the adoption and usage of healthcare apps persist, influenced by demographic and socioeconomic factors. Understanding these disparities is crucial for designing interventions that promote equitable access to digital health tools.
Objective:
This systematic review aims to identify and synthesize empirical studies on healthcare app usage disparities, focusing on demographic and socioeconomic factors. The review seeks to inform stakeholders about the key factors influencing app usage and provide insights to improve accessibility and effectiveness. Specifically, the review addresses the following research questions: (1) What are the key demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with healthcare app usage disparities? (2) How do these factors influence the adoption and utilization of healthcare apps? (3) What are the barriers to and facilitators of effective use of healthcare apps?
Methods:
The review will adhere to PRISMA-P guidelines. Eight databases—ACM Digital Library, CINAHL, IEEE Xplore, ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Journals, PubMed/MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science—were searched for articles published in English between January 1, 2014, and June 17, 2024. Eligibility criteria include journal articles focusing on healthcare app usage across different demographic and socioeconomic groups. Data management will involve using Zotero for reference management and Excel for screening and eligibility assessment. Two reviewers will independently extract data and assess study quality and risk of bias. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize study characteristics.
Results:
As of June 2024, the review is in the full-text screening stage. Data collection is ongoing, with completion anticipated by November 2024. The final results are expected to be published by early 2025. This review aims to provide comprehensive insights into the disparities in healthcare app usage.
Conclusions:
The findings of this systematic review will offer valuable insights into demographic and socioeconomic disparities in healthcare app usage, informing stakeholders on how to address these disparities. By identifying the factors influencing app adoption and usage, the review will contribute to the development of targeted interventions and policies to enhance digital health equity.
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.