An integrative review of supportive e-health programs in cancer care

This integrative review aims to gather more knowledge of the design of supportive e-health interventions for patients diagnosed with cancer and subsequently analyze and synthesize that knowledge in a potential explanatory model for those interventions.

PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO were searched for abstracts dating from 2000 through to June 2012. Eligible articles concerned education or support for adult cancer patients, and were provided either on the Internet or using CD-ROM or DVD.

Twenty-eight quantitative studies constituted the final sample, revealing that supportive e-health programs in the field of cancer are being used and are helpful to individuals despite their age, gender, literacy level and disease-stage. Each e-health program usually constitutes a single service with a variety of multimedia features, which leads to different designs yet with common outcomes. Some of these outcomes are theoretically explained, although a structure that links all aspects of the intervention is rarely found. Moreover, different designs have also been adopted for testing the interventions' effectiveness.

E-health interventions that allow supportive needs to be satisfied are leading to positive effects for individuals with different preferences and priorities. Even though several communalities could be found across interventions, methodological aspects of design, implementation and evaluation still vary, leading to some inconsistency. Models and applied theories are needed to clarify such issues, thus enhancing the credibility and applicability of supportive e-health programs across target populations.