Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jun 25, 2025
Date Accepted: Jan 10, 2026
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Use of health and welfare technology in palliative care: A state-of-the-art review
ABSTRACT
Background:
As more individuals live longer with complex conditions, the need for effective palliative care grows. It has been stated that access to palliative care should be integrated early and delivered timely to patients with life-threatening illnesses. Health and welfare technologies offer tools to enhance care delivery, particularly in home and rural settings. Although, there is a profound lack of evidence of the impacts when used in palliative care. Therefore, it is necessary to critically assess the current state of knowledge regarding impacts and consequences of technologies, ensuring that its integration considers broader implications for patients, caregivers, and healthcare systems in palliative care.
Objective:
This review explores health and welfare technology used in palliative care and their impact on patient, informal and formal caregivers, aiming to inform practice and improve care quality.
Methods:
A state-of-the-art review with empirical studies describing the use of health and welfare technology in palliative care for adult patients. Thematic synthesis approach was used to compare studies and provide a synthesis of the key points.
Results:
Based on the inclusion criteria, 94 studies were included. Palliative care is both a clinical specialty and an overall approach to care that focuses on improving quality of life and relieving suffering for patients and families facing serious illness, based on needs and not prognosis. Health and welfare technology shows potential to increase access and continuity of care, for symptom management to support patients to remain at home and prevent frequent emergency visits. It can have the potential to build and remain relationships between patients, their families and healthcare team, as well as for interprofessional collaboration and support. But there are challenges to overcome that might affect the quality of care by using technology.
Conclusions:
Health and welfare technology shows potential as a complement to usual palliative care. Our findings point towards the importance of caution in choosing when to use health and welfare technology in palliative care, and for which patients.
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Copyright
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