Protocol for an umbrella review of systematic reviews evaluating the efficacy of digital health solutions in supporting adult cancer survivorship care

Keane, Danielle, Calbimonte, Jean Paul, Pawłowska, Ewa, Kassianos, Angelos P., Medina, Joan C., Gregório, João, Serra-Blasco, Maria, Celebic, Aleksandar, Meglio, Antonio Di, Asadi-Azarbaijani, Babak, Foster, Claire, Donohoe, Claire L., Mafra, Allini, Backes, Claudine, Ochoa-Arnedo, Cristian, Gezer, Derya, Bozkul, Gamze, Horata, Emel Taşvuran, Özkan, Esra, Prue, Gillian, İşcan, Gökçe, Dural, Gül, Bahçecioğlu, Gülcan, Ersöğütçü, Filiz, Bērziņa, Guna, Bektas, Hicran, Vaz-Luis, Ines, Mlakar, Izidor, Rocha-Gomes, João, O’Connor, Mairead, Clara, Maria Inês, Karekla, Maria, Hagen, Marte Hoff, İmançer, Merve Saniye, Çöme, Oğulcan, Mevsim, Vildan, Aksoy, Nilay, Martins, Rui Miguel, Yokuş, Sıdıka Ece, Bayram, Sule Biyik, Can, Aysun Akçakaya, Brandão, Tânia, Saab, Mohamad M., Muluk, Nuray Bayar, Yıldırım, Zeynep, Podina, Ioana R., Karadağ, Songül, Erden, Sevilay, Semerci, Remziye, Aydin, Aydanur, Frountzas, Maximos, Cura, Şengül Üzen, Ruveyde, Aydın, Billis, Antonios, Calleja-Agius, Jean, Vojvodic, Katarina, Jaswal, Poonam, Sahin, Eda, Ilgaz, Ayşegül, Pilleron, Sophie and Hegarty, Josephine (2025) Protocol for an umbrella review of systematic reviews evaluating the efficacy of digital health solutions in supporting adult cancer survivorship care. PLoS ONE, 20 (5), [e0322100]. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0322100).

Abstract

Introduction The growing number of people living with, through and beyond cancer poses a new challenge for sustainable survivorship care solutions. Digital health solutions which incorporate various information and communication technologies are reshaping healthcare; offering huge potential to facilitate health promotion, support healthcare efficiencies, improve access to healthcare and positively impact health outcomes. Digital health solutions include websites and mobile applications, health information technologies, telehealth solutions, wearable devices, AI-supported chatbots and other technologically assisted provision of health information, communication and services. The breadth and scope of digital health solutions necessitate a synthesis of evidence on their use in supportive care in cancer. This umbrella review will identify, synthesise, and compare systematic reviews which have evaluated the efficacy or effectiveness of digital solutions for adult cancer survivorship care with a particular focus on surveillance and management of physical effects, psychosocial effects, new cancer/ recurring cancers and supporting health promotion and disease prevention. Methods and analysis An umbrella review of published systematic reviews will be undertaken to explore the types of digital health solutions used, their efficacy or effectiveness as a form of supportive care, and the barriers and enablers associated with their implementation. The umbrella review will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Overviews of Reviews (PRIOR) checklist. A search will be conducted across key databases. Records will be assessed independently by two review authors for eligibility against predefined criteria and will undergo two stage title, abstract and full text screening. All systematic reviews that meet the inclusion criteria will be assessed for quality using the AMSTAR 2 checklist with quality assessment and data extraction by two reviewers. The degree of publication overlap of primary studies across the included reviews will also be calculated and a mapping of the evidence will also be presented.

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Contributors

Author: Claire Foster

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