The effect of m-health applications on self-care improvement in older adults: A systematic review

Abstract

Participants: Four electronic databases were searched on March 6, 2020 including Scopus, PubMed, ISI, and Embase Methods: Our search consisted of concepts of “self-care,” “elderly” and “Mobile device.” English journal papers and, RCTs conducted for individuals older than 60 in the last 10 years were included. A narrative approach was used to synthesize the data due to the heterogeneous nature of the data. Results: Initially, 3047 studies were obtained and finally 19 studies were identified for deep analysis. 13 outcomes were identified in m-health interventions to help older adults’ self-care. Each outcome has at least one or more positive results. The psychological status and clinical outcome measures were all significantly improved. Conclusion: According to the findings, it is not possible to draw a definite positive decision about the effectiveness of interventions on older adults because the measures are very diverse and have been measured with different tools. However, it might be declared that m-health interventions have one or more positive results and can be used along with other interventions to improve the health of older adults.