Older Adults' Pain Outcomes After mHealth Interventions: Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Digital Health
• Pain Management

Background:

• Pain is a widespread issue in older adults, often poorly managed.
• Limited access and adoption of traditional pain self-management strategies highlight the need for technological solutions.
• Mobile health (mHealth) offers a feasible platform for delivering interventions to older adults, but its effectiveness for pain self-management requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review of mHealth interventions for pain self-management in older adults.
• To examine the characteristics of these mHealth interventions.
• To assess the efficacy of mHealth interventions on pain outcomes in older adults with musculoskeletal pain.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature search was performed in major databases (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, IEEE Xplore) from 2000 to 2022.
• Keywords included "mobile health application," "mHealth," "digital," "pain," "pain management," and "older adults."
• Six publications were included after screening and reference list review, with methodology appraised by three authors.

Main Results:

• The six included studies featured diverse methodologies, from pilot studies to comparative effectiveness trials.
• Participants were older adults with various musculoskeletal conditions.
• mHealth interventions, often multicomponent and involving mobile devices, suggested a potential reduction in pain intensity, but not statistically significant reductions in pain interference or other pain-related conditions.

Conclusions:

• Current research on mHealth for pain self-management in older adults is evolving beyond feasibility studies.
• Existing experimental studies are heterogeneous, and interventions are typically multicomponent.
• More rigorous experimental research is necessary to definitively establish the efficacy of mHealth interventions for various pain outcomes in older adults.