Digital Technology; General diabetes; Self-Management; eHealth; Humans; Scoping Reviews as Topic; Research Design; Telemedicine; Self Care/methods; Diabetes Mellitus/therapy; Diabetes Mellitus; Scoping Review as Topic; Self Care; Medicine (all)
Abstract :
[en] [en] INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus is a significant global health challenge, requiring innovative strategies to improve management and mitigate complications. Digital health technologies offer promising solutions to enhance diabetes self-care by providing real-time feedback, improving communication and supporting data-driven decision-making. Despite the increasing adoption of digital self-care interventions, there is a lack of comprehensive synthesis of evidence on their impact, accessibility and integration into healthcare systems. This scoping review aims to map existing research on digital self-care solutions for diabetes management, identify knowledge gaps and highlight best practices and key factors influencing adoption.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The review will follow Arksey and O'Malley's framework and adhere to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. A systematic search will be conducted in Medline, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL and Google Scholar, focusing on studies published from January 2004 to December 2024 in English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Slovak and Chinese. Studies reporting on digital self-care solutions for diabetes management will be included, covering experimental and quasi-experimental study designs. Data extraction will cover study and participant characteristics, digital solution features, and barriers and facilitators to adoption. Ethical and equity considerations will also be analysed using established frameworks. Two reviewers will independently screen studies, with discrepancies resolved by a third reviewer.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This scoping review will provide a comprehensive understanding of digital self-care solutions for diabetes management, offering insights to inform future research and enhance self-care practices globally. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conferences and interest holder engagements to inform clinical practice and policy development. As this study involves the review of existing literature, ethical approval is not required.
Disciplines :
Public health, health care sciences & services
Author, co-author :
Correia, Jorge César ; Unit of Therapeutic Patient Education, WHO Collaborating Centre, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland jorgecesar.correia@hcuge.ch ; Faculty Diabetes Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Fakih El Khoury, Cosette; National Institute of Public Health Clinical Epidemiology and Toxicology, Beirut, Beirut Governorate, Lebanon
El Chaar, Dayana; Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Arakelyan, Stella ; The University of Edinburgh Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, Edinburgh, UK
Rasooly, Alon; Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Loffreda, Giulia; Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (HSR), Science Division, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Joshi, Surabhi; Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, Rehabilitation and Disability (NCD), World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Cohen, Jean-David ; Rheumatology, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
De Andrade, Vincent; UFR SMBH, Education and Health Promotion Laboratory UR-3412, Sorbonne North Paris University, Villetaneuse, Île-de-France, France ; Graduate School of Nursing Sciences in Health Promotion, Sorbonne North Paris University, Villetaneuse, Île-de-France, France
Pétré, Benoît ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences de la santé publique > Education thérapeutique du patient au service des soins intégrés
Lapão, Luis Velez; IDeaS Laboratory, UNIDEMI, NOVA University Lisbon NOVA School of Science and Technology, Caparica, Setubal, Portugal ; WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Workforce Policy and Planning, IHMT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Perrin, Caroline; Geneva Digital Health Hub, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Pataky, Zoltan; Unit of Therapeutic Patient Education, WHO Collaborating Centre, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland ; Faculty Diabetes Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Fleming GA, Petrie JR, Bergenstal RM, et al. Diabetes Digital App Technology: Benefits, Challenges, and Recommendations. A Consensus Report by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Diabetes Technology Working Group. Diabetes Care 2020;43:250–60. doi:10.2337/dci19-0062
Digital diabetes management solutions. Peterson Health Technology Institute; 2024. Available: https://phti.org/assessment/digital-diabetes-management-tools/
Therapeutic patient education: an introductory guide. 2024. Available: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289060219
Mubeen F, Low Wang CC, Al Maradni A, et al. Digital Health and Shared Decision-Making in Diabetes Care - A Survey Initiative in Patients and Clinicians. Endocr Pract 2023;29:538–45. doi:10.1016/j.eprac.2023.04.012
Stevens S, Gallagher S, Andrews T, et al. The effectiveness of digital health technologies for patients with diabetes mellitus: A systematic review. Front Clin Diabetes Healthc 2022;3:936752. doi:10.3389/fcdhc.2022.936752
Shan R, Sarkar S, Martin SS. Digital health technology and mobile devices for the management of diabetes mellitus: state of the art. Diabetologia 2019;62:877–87. doi:10.1007/s00125-019-4864-7
Classification of digital interventions, services and applications in health: a shared language to describe the uses of digital technology for health. 2nd edn.Available: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240081949
Huang ES, Sinclair A, Conlin PR, et al. The Growing Role of Technology in the Care of Older Adults With Diabetes. Diabetes Care 2023;46:1455–63. doi:10.2337/dci23-0021
Tanhapour M, Peimani M, Rostam Niakan Kalhori S, et al. The effect of personalized intelligent digital systems for self-care training on type II diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. Acta Diabetol 2023;60:1599–631. doi:10.1007/s00592-023-02133-9
Iftikhar M, Saqib M, Qayyum SN, et al. Artificial intelligence-driven transformations in diabetes care: a comprehensive literature review. Ann Med Surg 2012;86:5334–42. doi:10.1097/MS9.0000000000002369
Scoping review: WHO self-care definitions. In: WHO consolidated guideline on self-care interventions for health: sexual and reproductive health and rights. World Health Organization, 2019. Available: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544155/
Alaslawi H, Berrou I, Al Hamid A, et al. Diabetes Self-management Apps: Systematic Review of Adoption Determinants and Future Research Agenda. JMIR Diabetes 2022;7:e28153. doi:10.2196/28153
Correia JC, Waqas A, Huat TS, et al. Effectiveness of Therapeutic Patient Education Interventions in Obesity and Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Nutrients 2022;14:3807. doi:10.3390/nu14183807
Organization WH. WHO guideline on self-care interventions for health and well-being. World Health Organization; 2022. Available: https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/357828
Jain SR, Sui Y, Ng CH, et al. Patients’ and healthcare professionals’ perspectives towards technology-assisted diabetes self-management education. A qualitative systematic review. PLoS ONE 2020;15:e0237647. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237647
Mobile apps for diabetes self-management: an updated review of app features and effectiveness. 2025. Available: https://awspntest.apa.org/record/2025-42449-001
Villalobos N, Vela FS, Hernandez LM. Digital Healthcare Intervention to Improve Self-Management for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Scoping Review. J Sci Innov Med 2020;3. doi:10.29024/jsim.78
Lee JL, Kim Y. Evaluation of Mobile Applications for Patients with Diabetes Mellitus: A Scoping Review. Healthcare (Basel) 2024;12:368. doi:10.3390/healthcare12030368
Tanhapour M, Mohammadzadeh N, Rostam Niakan Kalhori S, et al. Individualized self-care training systems for type 2 diabetes patients: a systematic review on characteristics of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Univ Access Inf Soc 2025;24:959–90. doi:10.1007/s10209-024-01138-7
Arksey H, O’Malley L. Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. Int J Soc Res Methodol 2005;8:19–32. doi:10.1080/1364557032000119616
Tricco AC, Lillie E, Zarin W, et al. PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR): Checklist and Explanation. Ann Intern Med 2018;169:467–73. doi:10.7326/M18-0850
Haddaway NR, Collins AM, Coughlin D, et al. The Role of Google Scholar in Evidence Reviews and Its Applicability to Grey Literature Searching. PLoS One 2015;10:e0138237. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138237
Vats K. Navigating the Digital Landscape: Embracing Innovation, Addressing Challenges, and Prioritizing Patient-Centric Care. Cureus 2024;16:e58352. doi:10.7759/cureus.58352
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Health Sciences Policy; Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health; Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation, Shore C, Beachy SH, et al. Ethical and regulatory considerations for digital health technologies. In: The role of digital health technologies in drug development: proceedings of a workshop. National Academies Press (US), 2020. Available: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563599/
Richardson S, Lawrence K, Schoenthaler AM, et al. A framework for digital health equity. NPJ Digit Med 2022;5:119:119. doi:10.1038/s41746-022-00663-0