Information and Communication Technologies to Support the Provision of Respite Care Services: Scoping Review.
Aimee R Castro, Lydia Ould Brahim, Qirong Chen and 9 others
PMID 37252760WHAT IT FOUND
Most respite care technology research focuses on caregivers and managers, not patients.
Families rarely used apps to find services, preferring clinician recommendations. No studies tested whether these tools actually improved patient outcomes.
Key findings
01Families relied more on recommendations from friends or clinicians than on ICTs like the internet for respite care information.
02Only one program discussed care receivers as participants, with most research focusing on family caregivers and managers.
03The included studies lacked control groups and did not evaluate the effects of ICT programs on respite care service outcomes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review included only 23 papers, indicating a sparse literature. Most included studies were qualitative or descriptive, lacking control groups and rigorous evaluation of outcomes. Patient and care receiver perspectives were largely absent, with only one program including them as participants. The search was limited to English, French, and Chinese academic literature, potentially missing gray literature or app-based services.
Declared interests
None declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the positive design and implementation themes as evidence that these technologies work. No study in this review tested whether ICTs improved patient or caregiver outcomes, and the majority of research excluded patients themselves.