mHealth Intervention Applications for Adults Living With the Effects of Stroke: A Scoping Review.
Suzanne P Burns, Madeleine Terblanche, Jaimee Perea and 5 others
PMID 33778470WHAT IT FOUND
Most stroke phone or tablet apps for adults are early-stage tools for hand, speech, exercise, and risk-factor management.
They show feasibility or user interest, not proven effectiveness. Many studies had small samples and pilot designs.
Key findings
01The review found 49 articles describing 38 apps, mostly usability, development, pilot, feasibility, or proof-of-concept work.
02Sample sizes were small: 23 studies had 20 or fewer participants, and 4 studies had more than 100 participants.
03The apps most often targeted upper extremity function (12 apps), medical management or secondary prevention (10), exercise or mobility (9), and language or speech skills (8).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This is a scoping review, not a trial. It maps what has been studied, not which app works. Many included studies were pilot, feasibility, or development reports, and 23 had 20 or fewer participants. No review protocol existed for this study. The search was limited to English-language articles, so evidence published in other languages was not included. The review included only apps used remotely or independently without constant provider supervision, so it does not cover fully therapist-guided technology. Some published articles meeting criteria may have been missed because they were not found in PubMed, CINAHL, or Scopus. It summarized results qualitatively, not as one combined treatment result.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this review as proof that phone or tablet apps improve stroke outcomes. It mostly found pilot, feasibility, and development studies with small samples, and it did not show which app works for which patient.