Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jan 8:6:2013.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02013. eCollection 2015.

eHealth for Patient Engagement: A Systematic Review

Serena Barello  1 , Stefano Triberti  1 , Guendalina Graffigna  1 , Chiara Libreri  1 , Silvia Serino  2 , Judith Hibbard  3 , Giuseppe Riva  4
Affiliations
Review

eHealth for Patient Engagement: A Systematic Review

Serena Barello et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

eHealth interventions are recognized to have a tremendous potential to promote patient engagement. To date, the majority of studies examine the efficacy of eHealth in enhancing clinical outcomes without focusing on patient engagement in its specificity. This paper aimed at reviewing findings from the literature about the use of eHealth in engaging patients in their own care process. We undertook a comprehensive literature search within the peer-reviewed international literature. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. eHealth interventions reviewed were mainly devoted to foster only partial dimensions of patient engagement (i.e., alternatively cognitive, emotional or behavioral domains related to healthcare management), thus failing to consider the complexity of such an experience. This also led to a great heterogeneity of technologies, assessed variables and achieved outcomes. This systematic review underlines the need for a more holistic view of patient needs to actually engage them in eHealth interventions and obtaining positive outcomes. In this sense, patient engagement constitute a new frontiers for healthcare models where eHealth could maximize its potentialities.

Keywords: eHealth; patient activation; patient engagement; patient experience; systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Publication trend of eHealth for patient engagement studies across the last 13 years.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Systematic review flow.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aberger E. W., Migliozzi D., Follick M. J., Malick T., Ahern D. K. (2014). Enhancing patient engagement and blood pressure management for renal transplant recipients via home electronic monitoring and web-enabled collaborative care. Telemed. e-Health. 20, 850–854. 10.1089/tmj.2013.0317 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agarwal R., Anderson C., Zarate J., Ward C. (2013). If we offer it, will they accept? Factors affecting patient use intentions of personal health records and secure messaging. J. Med. Internet. Res. 15, e43. 10.2196/jmir.2243 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahern D., Phalen J. M., Eaton C. B. (2008). The role of eHealth in patient engagement and quality improvement, in eHealth Solutions for Healthcare Disparities, ed Gibbons M. C. (New York, NY: Springer Verlag; ), 75–92.
    1. Aujoulat I., d'Hoore W., Deccache A. (2007). Patient empowerment in theory and practice: polysemy or cacophony? Patient Educ. Couns. 66, 13–20. 10.1016/j.pec.2006.09.008 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barello S., Graffigna G., Vegni E., Savarese M., Lombardi F., Bosio A. C. (2015a). “Engage me in taking care of my heart”: a grounded theory study on patient-cardiologist relationship in the hospital management of heart failure. BMJ Open 5:e005582 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005582 - DOI - PMC - PubMed