The Use of Telehealth Among People Living With Dementia-Caregiver Dyads During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review

Abstract

Background Telehealth has gained substantial attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reimbursement policies in health care settings have increased access to remote modes of care delivery. Telehealth has the potential to mitigate care concerns for people living with dementia and their family caregivers. There is a paucity of knowledge on the performance of telehealth services and user experiences, especially among caregiving dyads during the pandemic. Objective This study aims to describe the implementation, effectiveness, user experience, and barriers to accessing and using telehealth services for people living with dementia and their caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist, we searched 7 databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, AgeLine, CINAHL, Social Services Abstracts, Web of Science, and Scopus) and a web-based search engine (Google Scholar). The inclusion criteria for peer-reviewed English publications from March 2020 to August 2022 consisted of studies related to telehealth services for people living with dementia and their family caregivers and studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results A total of 24 articles (10 quantitative and 14 qualitative studies) from 10 different countries were included. The major findings of the reviewed articles were extracted and organized into the following 4 themes: study design characteristics—strategies were adopted to improve the accessibility and experience of people living with dementia-caregiver dyads; efficacy outcomes of telehealth services—robust evidence is lacking on the comparative effectiveness of in-person services; perceived experiences of people living with dementia and caregivers—most reviewed studies reported positive experiences of using telehealth services and perceived personal and social benefits from their participants; and barriers to accessing and using telehealth services—several barriers related to individuals, infrastructure, and telehealth environments were identified. Conclusions Although evidence of its effectiveness is still limited, telehealth is widely accepted as a viable alternative to in-person care for high-risk groups, such as people living with dementia and their caregivers. Future research should include expanding digital access for those with limited resources and low technology literacy, adopting randomized controlled trial designs to establish the comparative effectiveness of different modes of service delivery, and increasing the sample diversity.

Social Determinants of Health and Patients’ Technology Acceptance of Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Pilot Survey

“…Several papers show that the educational level of an individual and digital literacy play a vital role in the adoption of telehealth services, in contrast to the results of this study [27,51,52]. In particular, racial minorities, older adults, and people with lower educational levels are not likely to engage in web-based patient portals despite having a stable internet connection [53][54][55]. Another interesting study compared whether an individual's educational level or SES had a significant influence on telehealth use and adoption.…”

2024 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures

“… 455 Providing telehealth support to dementia caregivers that was culturally appropriate, delivering COVID‐19 safety education, and offering compassionate listening appeared to benefit social connections and reduce distress. 683 , 684 In a survey, women dementia caregivers were more likely to indicate needs related to carrying out caregiving responsibilities during the pandemic, whereas men indicated more needs for health and social resources. Men were also more likely to report psychological distress.…”

Perceptions of Patients, Caregivers, and Healthcare Professionals toward Telemedicine Use for Cognitive and Movement Disorders in the Aegean Islands, Greece: A Pilot Study of the SI4CARE European Project

“…Most studies have indicated positive perceptions toward the use of telemedicine among patients with dementia and their caregivers [9][10][11][12][13][14][15], as well as among patients with Parkinson's disease [7]. A recent scoping review aiming to describe the effectiveness and user experience of using telemedicine services for individuals with dementia and their caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that overall, participants perceive this mode of care delivery positively [12]. In particular, it has been indicated that about two-thirds of caregivers of patients with dementia would be willing to use telemedicine for monitoring, and telemedicine was actually preferred if given as an option [16].…”