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. 2024 Jun 21;16(13):2293.
doi: 10.3390/cancers16132293.

Cancer Patients' Perspectives and Requirements of Digital Health Technologies: A Scoping Literature Review

Affiliations

Cancer Patients' Perspectives and Requirements of Digital Health Technologies: A Scoping Literature Review

Ioulietta Lazarou et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Digital health technologies have the potential to alleviate the increasing cancer burden. Incorporating patients' perspectives on digital health tools has been identified as a critical determinant for their successful uptake in cancer care. The main objective of this scoping review was to provide an overview of the existing evidence on cancer patients' perspectives and requirements for patient-facing digital health technologies. Three databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, Science Direct) were searched and 128 studies were identified as eligible for inclusion. Web-based software/platforms, mobile or smartphone devices/applications, and remote sensing/wearable technologies employed for the delivery of interventions and patient monitoring were the most frequently employed technologies in cancer care. The abilities of digital tools to enable care management, user-friendliness, and facilitate patient-clinician interactions were the technological requirements predominantly considered as important by cancer patients. The findings from this review provide evidence that could inform future research on technology-associated parameters influencing cancer patients' decisions regarding the uptake and adoption of patient-facing digital health technologies.

Keywords: cancer patients; digital health technologies; scoping review; user requirements.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Search terms applied in database searches.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PRISMA flow diagram of the article screening and selection process [23].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of identified studies by publication year.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Number of identified studies by technology category.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Number of included studies by intended technology use.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Identified user patient-facing digital health technology requirements by classification category.

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