Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Aug 29, 2019
Date Accepted: Oct 22, 2019
Elements of Social Convoy Theory in mHealth for Palliative Care: A Scoping Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Mobile health (mHealth) provides a unique modality for improving access to and awareness of palliative care among patients, families, and caregivers from diverse backgrounds. Some mHealth palliative care applications (apps) exist, both commercially available and established by academic researchers. However, the elements of family support and family caregiving tools offered by these early apps is unknown
Objective:
The objective of this scoping review uses social convoy theory to describe the inclusion and functionality of family, social relationships, and caregivers in palliative care mobile applications.
Methods:
Using the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, a systematic search of palliative care mHealth included: 1) research-based mobile applications (apps) identified from academic searches published between January 1, 2010 and March 31, 2019, and 2) commercially available apps for app stores in April 2019. Two reviewers independently assessed abstracts, app titles, and descriptions against the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Abstracted data covered: app name, research team or developer, palliative care element, target audience, and features for family support and caregiving functionality as defined by social convoy theory.
Results:
Overall, 10 articles describing 9 individual research-based apps and 22 commercially available apps were identified. Commercially available apps were most commonly designed for both patients and social convoys, while the majority of research apps were designed for patient use only.
Conclusions:
Results suggest there is an emerging presence of apps for patients and social convoys receiving palliative care, yet there are many needs for developers and researchers to address in the future. While palliative care mHealth is a growing field, additional research is needed for apps that embrace a team approach to information sharing, target family and caregiver specific issues, promote access to palliative care, and are comprehensive of palliative needs.
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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.