Table 1 Characteristics of the identified publications

Qualitative studies

Åkerlind et al. (2018)^a [6]

Exploratory (semi structured individual interviews)

N = 12 participants (older patients who had been provided with eHomecare and 8 relatives)

At home

(Sweden)

Night camera (for supervision at night); (portable) videophone (for daily check-ups, social interactions, and reminders); electronic mailbox (for reminders and information by SMS)

To extend descriptions of how older patients with granted eHomecare and their relatives understand safety, and further to describe how they experience safety in everyday life

Bajaj et al. (2017) [35]

Design n.f.d. (observation)

N = 14 NYC Health + Hospital facilities (including 12 hospital-based prenatal clinics/2 outpatient clinics)

In Hospitals

(USA)

Incognito patients embedded within electronic health record (Zika Simulation Drills)

To highlight challenges and solutions to implementation of an incognito embedded participant simulation program across a large healthcare system to enhance preparedness for a public health threat (Zika Virus)

Bhattacharya et al. (2021) [36]

Exploratory (interviews and surveys)

N = 18 participants (N = 10 mental health clinicians; N = 8 teens with depression)

Internet

(USA)

Internet-based groups on Slack

To understand needs and challenges that patients face in depression management and involve them in the design process of a remote intervention that uses asynchronous remote communities, to understand the benefits and challenges of adapting behavioural activation to an internet-based platform that supports the asynchronous remote community approach as a delivery tool for teen depression management

Demiris et al. (2019) [37]

Exploratory (analysis of coded transcripts of in-depth interviews)

N = 171 participants (N = 88 adults 60 years and older; N = 56 identified by older adults as friends and family (involved in health/health information management) N = 27 clinicians (physicians, nurses, social workers)

At home

(USA)

Personal health information management tools

To explore how personal health information management can be a facilitator for patient safety in the home

Dixon et al. (2022) [38]

Exploratory (semi structured telephone interviews), fictional vignette-based scenarios)

N = 18 participants (General Practitioners)

At home

(England)

Remote consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic

To explore GP perspectives and concerns about safeguarding practice during the pandemic, focusing on challenges and opportunities created by remote consultation

D’Onofrio et al. (2019) [39]

Descriptive (prestructured questionnaire)

N = 53 participants (N = 36 caregivers (21 professionals; 15 informal; N = 17 adults (> 60 years))

Setting n.f.d

(Italy and Japan)

Robotic solutions for ageing

To provide a pilot qualitative analysis of the needs of elderly people and their caregivers when exposed to conversational activities with robots with prioritisation from end-user perspectives

Donovan et al. (2021) [40]

Explorative (semi structured interviews)

N = 35 participants (patients)

At home

(USA)

Telehealth

To assess patients’ experiences receiving sleep care by telehealth

Hylén et al. (2022) [41]

Descriptive (semi structured telephone interviews)

N = 25 participants (parents)

At home

(Sweden)

Specific mobile eHealth tablet (for digital communication between parents and healthcare providers during the family’s transition from hospital to home)

To analyze access to healthcare as perceived by parents when caring for their child at home, with conventional care supported by eHealth following paediatric surgery or preterm birth

James et al. (2021) [42]

Descriptive (semi structured telephone interviews)

N = 25 participants (primary healthcare nurses)

At home

(Australia)

Telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic

To explore the experiences of Australian primary healthcare nurses in the use of telehealth during COVID-19

Johannessen (2021)^a [43]

Exploratory (focus groups, individual/semi structured interviews)

N = 29 participants (N = 10 homecare-professionals; N = 10 managers; N = 9 older telecare user)

At home

(Norway)

Telecare

To contribute to more insight and knowledge regarding patient safety and perception of safety when telecare is used, by exploring the perceptions and experiences

Karlsen et al. (2019) [44]

Hermeneutic (interviews and follow-up interviews)

N = 25 participants, older adults (N = 18, follow up N = 15); N = 7 close family caregivers)

At home

(Norway)

Telecare/telemonitoring

To obtain a deeper understanding of the persistent use of telecare

Lounsbury et al. (2021) [45]

Descriptive (participants listening to recorded stories, writing their thoughts on a card)

N = 352 participants (no special type)

Setting n.f.d

(UK)

Health care data sharing

To explore the views of the public, particularly their hopes and concerns, around healthcare data sharing

Lynch et al. (2022)^a [46]

Post-phenomenological (semi structured interviews/ethnographical case studies with observations)

N = 47 participants (patients)

At home

(UK)

Home monitoring and communication kit (internet-enabled tablet computer and Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure and heart rate monitor, and weighing scales)

To explore users’ different ways in which reassurance is experienced with different types of technology-enabled care

Maier et al. (2021) [47]

Phenomenological (open-ended online questions, follow-up interviews)

N = 25 participants (patients)

N = 2 participants (patients) in follow-up interviews

At home

(USA)

Teletherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic

To explore the lived experiences of individuals in teletherapy, specifically those engaging in teletherapy with a romantic partner or family member

Malmgren Fänge et al. (2019) [48]

Exploratory (semi-structured interviews)

N = 30 participants (9 people with dementia; 21 family members)

At home

(Sweden)

Sensor-based technology (home-leaving-, smoke-, water leak-, door-, window-, motion-based bed- and automatic light sensors)

To evaluate the effects of sensor-based technology on independence among people with dementia and care- giver stress among their family members

Nakrem et al. (2018) [2]

Exploratory multicase (semi structured interviews)

N = 21 participants (health care professionals)

At home

(Norway)

Digital medicine dispensers

To explore how home healthcare professionals had experienced the introduction of digital medicine dispensers and their influence on patient-caregiver relationships

Nyholm et al. (2021)^a [3]

Descriptive (video vignette and semi-structured interviews)

N = 12 participants (no special type)

Hospital

(Finland)

Robotics

To illuminate users’ sense of security with humanoid robots in healthcare

Raja et al. (2022) [9]

Reflective Lifeworld Research design (in-depth interviews)

N = 13 participants (75 or older)

Setting n.f.d

(Norway)

Digitally led healthcare

To clarify the phenomenon of sense of dignity experienced in older adults, concerning how their expectations and needs are met within the context of digitally led healthcare in Norway

Strand et al. (2022) [12]

Descriptive participatory (Employing a framework of complex interventions and interviews)

N = 11 participants (N = 8 parents; N = 3 nurses)

At home (neonatal care)

(Sweden)

Technical development of an eHealth application for computer tablets (video and information exchange)

To develop an eHealth device supporting the transition from hospital to home for parents with a preterm-born child in Sweden using participatory design

Winberg et al. (2021) [49]

Descriptive (focus group interviews)

N = 16 participants (people with a neurological disability)

At home

(Sweden)

Apps to facilitate self-management in everyday life

To describe how people living with a neurological disability, e.g., multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, using apps for facilitating self-management

Quantitative studies

Doorley et al. (2020) [50]

Descriptive (ecological momentary assessment and day reconstruction method)

N = 428 participants (people with varying levels of social anxiety; 3172 observations

Setting n.f.d

(USA)

Digital communication

To better understand the influence of social anxiety on communication behaviours and how people with elevated social anxiety feel when they are communicating digitally versus face-to-face

Hughes et al. (2021) [51]

Descriptive case‒control-study (prepost surveys, observations)

N = 50 participants (surgical teams)

MASCAL simulation drill

(USA)

Telemedical device during a mass casualty event simulated training

To examine the positive and/or negative impacts of telemedicine on teamwork in teams responding to mass casualty events

Lang et al. (2022) [52]

Longitudinal bicentric interventional (multiple quantitative methods of data collection/analysis)

N = 177 participants (multimorbid older patients) + e.g., general practitioners, therapists, social services

At home

(Germany)

Telemonitoring

To develop an information/communication platform for an intersectoral networking. The development and testing of this telemonitoring applications aimed to optimise patients’ healthcare

Mixed methods studies

Ninatti and Piergiovanni (2019) [53]

Mixed methods: exploratory qualitative (In-person interviews) /descriptive quantitative (survey)

N = 9 participants (different professionals)

N = 82 participants (different professionals)

Setting n.f.d

(Italy)

Digital technologies in general for the treatment of eating disorders

To explore the opportunities provided by digital technologies for eating disorder treatment and to explore factors of the intention to use digital technologies of the professional figures who treat eating disorders according to their impact on psychological well-being

Rogerson et al. (2019) [54]

Mixed methods: descriptive: quantitative (usage analysis) /qualitative (semi-structured interviews)

N = 19 stroke survivors who lived alone

At home

(UK)

Monitors users’ activity in the home and uses machine learning algorithms to detect activity changes; family member contacted if activity changes

To assess the feasibility and acceptability of a special smart home system for stroke survivors

Reviews

Kupfer and Mayer (2019) [55]

Narrative review

Children and adolescents

At home

(Germany)

Online (blended) counselling

To identify research on online counselling, established primarily in English-speaking countries (Australia, UK), referenced to confidentiality and emotional security. The establishment of a short-term counselling relationship, autonomy, and a sense of control, and low-threshold access and exclusion as relevant themes

Salvador Vergès et al. (2022) [56]

Scoping Review

(n. a.)

Palliative care

(Spain)

Telemedicine

To describe the current use of telemedicine in palliative care and assess stakeholders’ views on the initiatives that have been implemented worldwide regarding digital service standards

Van Olmen (2022) [57]

Narrative Review

(n. a.)

Setting n.f.d

(Belgium)

E-Health interventions

To examine the mechanisms among e-Health interventions, self-management, and wellbeing

Widberg et al. (2020) [7]

Systematic integrative review

N = 397 participants (patients)

Palliative care

(Sweden)

E-Health

To describe patients’ experiences of eHealth in palliative care

Grey literature

German government's Data Ethics Commission (2019) [58]

Report (n. a.)

(n. a.)

Setting n.f.d

(Germany)

Three topics: algorithm-based forecasting and decision-making, AI, and data

To provide ethical standards and guidelines for the protection of the individual, the preservation of social coexistence and the safeguarding and promotion of prosperity in the information age

German ethics council (2020) [59]

Statement “Robotics for good care” (n. a.)

(n. a.)

Setting n.f.d

(Germany)

Robotics in healthcare

To provide a statement on the discussion of robotics in nursing care

Perry et al. (2021) [60]

White Paper

(n. a.)

At home

(USA)

Telemedicine

To provide a framework for ensuring safe, equitable, person-centred telemedicine