Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-7-2021
Abstract
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative chronic diseases. As it progresses, patients become increasingly dependent, and their caregivers are burdened with the increasing demand for managing their care. Mobile health (mHealth) technology, such as smartphone applications, can support the need of these caregivers. This paper examines the published academic literature of mHealth applications that support the caregivers of AD patients. Following the PRISMA for scoping reviews, we searched published literature in five electronic databases between January 2014 and January 2021. Twelve articles were included in the final review. Six themes emerged based on the functionalities provided by the reviewed applications for caregivers. They are tracking, task management, monitoring, caregiver mental support, education, and caregiver communication platform. The review revealed that mHealth applications for AD patients’ caregivers are inadequate. There is an opportunity for industry, government, and academia to fill the unmet need of these caregiver.
Recommended Citation
Kim, E., Baskys, A., Law, A.V. et al. Scoping review: the empowerment of Alzheimer’s Disease caregivers with mHealth applications. npj Digit. Med. 4, 131 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-021-00506-4
Copyright
The authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Clinical and Medical Social Work Commons, Health Information Technology Commons, Medical Neurobiology Commons, Nervous System Diseases Commons, Neurology Commons, Neurosciences Commons, Other Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, Other Mental and Social Health Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in npj Digital Medicine, volume 4, in 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-021-00506-4