Digital Informal Care: The Use of Technology in Family Care. A Scoping Review

To map the recent literature on digital health in informal caregiving, identify commonly used technologies, their functions and impact, as well as barriers and facilitators.

We searched Medline, Web of Science, and CINAHL for randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental, observational, and qualitative studies, published in English between 2019 and 2024.

110 studies were included, most of which targeted informal caregivers in dementia care and used moderately complex, consumer-facing technologies for education and caregiving support. Positive impact was reported on various outcomes such as caregiver burden, psychological wellbeing, caregiver competence, quality of life, caregiver-patient relationships, as well as care coordination and efficiency. Barriers included limited digital literacy, technical issues, low accessibility, caregiving burden, and data security concerns. Facilitators were good digital skills, social and emotional support, user-friendly designs, and perceived usefulness.

Digital informal care is emerging and shows promise in supporting informal caregivers by improving their wellbeing, skills, and connectedness. However, barriers and knowledge gaps remain, highlighting the need for additional research as well as more inclusive and person-centred digital informal care approaches.