Summary:

 

  • “The aim of this systematic scoping review was to gain a better understanding of research trends in digital mental health care. We focused on comorbid conditions: depression, anxiety, and pain–which continue to affect an estimated 20% of world population and require complex and continuous social and medical care provisions.”
  • “We searched all randomized controlled trials on PubMed until May 2021 for any articles that used a form of information and communication technology (ICT) in relation to primary outcomes anxiety, pain, depression, or stress.”
  • “From 1285 articles that satisfied the inclusion criteria, 890 were randomized trials with nearly 70% satisfactory outcomes. For depression and anxiety, the most frequently reported, were web-based, or mobile apps used for self-monitoring, and guided interventions. For pain, VR-based interventions or games were more prevalent, especially as tools for distraction, or as stimuli for mechanistic studies of pain or anxiety.”
  • “We discuss gaps in knowledge and challenges that relate to the human factors in digital health applications, and underline the need for a practical and conceptual framework for capturing and reporting such variations.”

 

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