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Top2. Methods
For the purposes of the present study, mHealth include any mobile equipment (e.g. mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, or other devices connected by wireless technology) and services (e.g. Short Messaging Service - SMS -, Multimedia Messaging Service - MMS - or special purpose applications). These products and services allow symptom monitoring, self-care management and facilitate access to care knowledge and patient-provider communication (Hamine, Gerth-Guyette, Faulx, Green & Ginsburg, 2015).
The systematic review of the present study was informed by the following research questions:
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What are the most relevant application domains of mHealth to support older adults in their domiciles?
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How can mHealth be used to manage chronic conditions of older adults?
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What are the characteristics, outcomes and impacts of mHealth tools that might support older adults in their domiciles?
Since a large number of articles have been published, this study included systematic reviews or meta-analyses only.
In order to determine the most appropriate search strategy, an initial scoping study was conducted, and its outcomes were discussed with other researchers and captured in a review protocol with explicit descriptions of the methods to be used and the steps to be taken.
The queries were prepared to include: i) all the reviews and meta-analysis where any of the keywords ‘telecare,’ ‘telemedicine,’ ‘homecare,’ ‘telehealth,’ ‘telemonitoring,’ ‘remote monitoring,’ ‘telerehabilitation,’ ‘ehealth,’ ‘mobile health,’ ‘mhealth,’ or ‘assisted living’ were present in the title or abstract; and ii) all the reviews and meta-analysis where any of the keywords ‘information technology,’ ‘information and communication,’ ‘technology-based,’ ‘internet-based,’ ‘web-based,’ ‘on-line,’ ‘mobile phone,’ ‘smartphones,’ ‘mobile apps,’ ‘monitoring devices,’ or ‘consumer health information’ were present in the title or abstract together with any of the keywords ‘healthcare,’ ‘health care,’ ‘patient,’ or ‘chronic condition’.
Employing Boolean phrases, the literature search was performed in two general databases (Web of Science and Scopus) and two specific databases (PubMed, a medical-related database, and IEEE Explorer, a technological database) on January 2018.
In terms of inclusion criteria, it was considered reviews and meta-analysis related to mHealth solutions published during the preceding 10 years, and that can be used in home care services to support older adults, including older adults with chronic diseases. Considering the exclusion criteria, the authors aimed to exclude systematic reviews of reviews or meta-analysis that are not published in English, or that report solutions that: i) target health conditions not related to older adults (e.g. pediatric conditions); ii) do not target the older adults (e.g. studies that are clinicians focused or are intended primary to deal with the problems of caregivers rather than the patients); and iii) are designed to be used in an institutional environment and not in the domicile of the older adults.