The Use of Telehealth Among People Living With Dementia-Caregiver Dyads During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review

BackgroundTelehealth has gained substantial attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reimbursement policies in health care settings have increased access to remote modes of care delivery. Telehealth has the potential to mitigate care concerns for people living with dementi...

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Main Authors: Jiaming Liang, Maria P Aranda
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2023-05-01
Series:Journal of Medical Internet Research
Online Access:https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e45045
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author Jiaming Liang
Maria P Aranda
author_facet Jiaming Liang
Maria P Aranda
author_sort Jiaming Liang
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundTelehealth has gained substantial attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reimbursement policies in health care settings have increased access to remote modes of care delivery. Telehealth has the potential to mitigate care concerns for people living with dementia and their family caregivers. There is a paucity of knowledge on the performance of telehealth services and user experiences, especially among caregiving dyads during the pandemic. ObjectiveThis study aims to describe the implementation, effectiveness, user experience, and barriers to accessing and using telehealth services for people living with dementia and their caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsFollowing the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist, we searched 7 databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, AgeLine, CINAHL, Social Services Abstracts, Web of Science, and Scopus) and a web-based search engine (Google Scholar). The inclusion criteria for peer-reviewed English publications from March 2020 to August 2022 consisted of studies related to telehealth services for people living with dementia and their family caregivers and studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. ResultsA total of 24 articles (10 quantitative and 14 qualitative studies) from 10 different countries were included. The major findings of the reviewed articles were extracted and organized into the following 4 themes: study design characteristics—strategies were adopted to improve the accessibility and experience of people living with dementia-caregiver dyads; efficacy outcomes of telehealth services—robust evidence is lacking on the comparative effectiveness of in-person services; perceived experiences of people living with dementia and caregivers—most reviewed studies reported positive experiences of using telehealth services and perceived personal and social benefits from their participants; and barriers to accessing and using telehealth services—several barriers related to individuals, infrastructure, and telehealth environments were identified. ConclusionsAlthough evidence of its effectiveness is still limited, telehealth is widely accepted as a viable alternative to in-person care for high-risk groups, such as people living with dementia and their caregivers. Future research should include expanding digital access for those with limited resources and low technology literacy, adopting randomized controlled trial designs to establish the comparative effectiveness of different modes of service delivery, and increasing the sample diversity.
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spelling doaj.art-d55720acbbd24b168ca938d6bfb33b252023-08-28T23:58:28ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712023-05-0125e4504510.2196/45045The Use of Telehealth Among People Living With Dementia-Caregiver Dyads During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping ReviewJiaming Lianghttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7273-495XMaria P Arandahttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5229-4993 BackgroundTelehealth has gained substantial attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reimbursement policies in health care settings have increased access to remote modes of care delivery. Telehealth has the potential to mitigate care concerns for people living with dementia and their family caregivers. There is a paucity of knowledge on the performance of telehealth services and user experiences, especially among caregiving dyads during the pandemic. ObjectiveThis study aims to describe the implementation, effectiveness, user experience, and barriers to accessing and using telehealth services for people living with dementia and their caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsFollowing the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist, we searched 7 databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, AgeLine, CINAHL, Social Services Abstracts, Web of Science, and Scopus) and a web-based search engine (Google Scholar). The inclusion criteria for peer-reviewed English publications from March 2020 to August 2022 consisted of studies related to telehealth services for people living with dementia and their family caregivers and studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. ResultsA total of 24 articles (10 quantitative and 14 qualitative studies) from 10 different countries were included. The major findings of the reviewed articles were extracted and organized into the following 4 themes: study design characteristics—strategies were adopted to improve the accessibility and experience of people living with dementia-caregiver dyads; efficacy outcomes of telehealth services—robust evidence is lacking on the comparative effectiveness of in-person services; perceived experiences of people living with dementia and caregivers—most reviewed studies reported positive experiences of using telehealth services and perceived personal and social benefits from their participants; and barriers to accessing and using telehealth services—several barriers related to individuals, infrastructure, and telehealth environments were identified. ConclusionsAlthough evidence of its effectiveness is still limited, telehealth is widely accepted as a viable alternative to in-person care for high-risk groups, such as people living with dementia and their caregivers. Future research should include expanding digital access for those with limited resources and low technology literacy, adopting randomized controlled trial designs to establish the comparative effectiveness of different modes of service delivery, and increasing the sample diversity.https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e45045
spellingShingle Jiaming Liang
Maria P Aranda
The Use of Telehealth Among People Living With Dementia-Caregiver Dyads During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review
Journal of Medical Internet Research
title The Use of Telehealth Among People Living With Dementia-Caregiver Dyads During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review
title_full The Use of Telehealth Among People Living With Dementia-Caregiver Dyads During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review
title_fullStr The Use of Telehealth Among People Living With Dementia-Caregiver Dyads During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review
title_full_unstemmed The Use of Telehealth Among People Living With Dementia-Caregiver Dyads During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review
title_short The Use of Telehealth Among People Living With Dementia-Caregiver Dyads During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review
title_sort use of telehealth among people living with dementia caregiver dyads during the covid 19 pandemic scoping review
url https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e45045
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