Dyadic Psychosocial eHealth Interventions: Systematic Scoping Review.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Psychosocial Interventions
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Dyadic psychosocial interventions benefit individuals with health conditions and their support networks.
• Electronic health (eHealth) delivery enhances the scalability of these interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively review dyadic eHealth interventions for all ages affected by illness.
• To understand current applications and identify research gaps in dyadic eHealth intervention development and dissemination.

Main Methods:

• Scoping review of literature from major databases (PubMed, EMBASE, etc.) through March 2019.
• Included studies describing psychosocial eHealth interventions for care recipients and their support persons.

Main Results:

• 101 studies identified 52 unique dyadic eHealth interventions across 73 trials, primarily for pediatric (n=33) and adult (n=18) dyads.
• Pediatric interventions focused on mental health; adult interventions often targeted cancer.
• Positive effects were noted for care recipients, but limited evidence existed for support persons due to sparse outcome reporting.

Conclusions:

• A substantial and growing body of literature supports dyadic eHealth interventions.
• Gaps include evaluating unique dyadic effects, assessing support person outcomes, and targeting older adult dyads.
• Opportunities exist for developing interventions for new populations and improving access to dyadic care.