Digital Health Communication Maturity Model: A Systematic Review (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Recently, digital health has emerged as a crucial factor in public healthcare. Health organizations are now prioritizing evaluations of their digital health maturity to ensure full optimization of the benefits of this new technology. OBJECTIVE This review aims to address existing gaps in Digital Health Maturity Models (DHMMs), specifically focusing on issues related to consensus, standardization, and the tendency to prioritize infrastructural implementation over communication elements. METHODS A systematic review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. This review included 29 articles from various databases, including EBSCO, PubMed, and ProQuest. RESULTS The results show that existing DHMMs lack critical user communication elements, such as satisfaction, engagement, personalization, and customization. This review proposes a Digital Health Communication Maturity Model (DHCMM) to address this gap, which enhances existing DHMMs by incorporating health communication components. This innovative model offers a more comprehensive assessment of an organization's digital health maturity and presents avenues for enhancement. CONCLUSIONS The newly introduced DHCMM in this study offers a framework for evaluating engagement by users and stakeholders within the digital health ecosystem. Emphasizing collaboration, governance, and the effective use of digital health capabilities provides a structured approach to assessing maturity in digital health communication.