Healthcare professionals’ experiences and perspectives on using telehealth for home-based palliative care: a scoping review protocol (Preprint)

Abstract

\n BACKGROUND\n Telehealth seems feasible for use in home-based palliative care. However, acceptance among healthcare professionals is essential for the successful delivery of telehealth in practice. No scoping review has mapped the experiences and perspectives of healthcare professionals on the use of telehealth for home-based palliative care.\n \n \n OBJECTIVE\n To systematically map published studies on healthcare professionals’ experiences and perspectives on the use of telehealth in home-based palliative care.\n \n \n METHODS\n The proposed scoping review will employ the methodology of Arksey and O’Malley. This protocol is guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocol (PRISMA-P). A systematic search was performed in Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), PsycINFO, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), Allied and Complementary Medicine (AMED) and Web of Science (WoS) for studies published between January 2000 to July 5, 2021. We will also hand search the reference lists of included papers to identify additional studies of relevance. The search will be updated in 2022. Pairs of authors will independently assess eligibility of studies and extract data. The two first stages of thematic synthesis will be used to thematically organize the data material. Since the scoping review methodology consists of reviewing and collecting data from publicly available materials, this study does not require ethics approval.\n \n \n RESULTS\n The database searches were performed on July 5, 2021 and the eligibility criteria were tested in July-August 2021. After removal of 2364 duplicates, the search yielded 2420 citations.We will screen titles, abstracts and full-text papers by fall 2021. Results are anticipated by September 2022.\n \n \n CONCLUSIONS\n A mapping of studies could identify research gaps regarding healthcare professionals’ experiences and perspectives on the use of telehealth in home-based palliative care and may determine the value and feasibility of conducting a full systematic review.\n