Barriers to, and facilitators of, eHealth utilisation by parents of high-risk newborn infants in the NICU: a scoping review protocol

Abstract

IntroductionParental presence in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has been demonstrated to enhance infant growth and development, reduce parental anxiety and stress and strengthen parent–infant bonding. Since eHealth technology emerged, research on its utilisation in NICUs has risen substantially. There is some evidence that incorporating such technologies in the NICU can reduce parental stress and enhance parent confidence in caring for their infant.Several countries, including China, restrict parental attendance in NICUs, citing infection control challenges, issues of privacy and confidentiality and perceived additional workload for healthcare professionals. Due to COVID-19 pandemic-related shortages of personal protective equipment and uncertain mode of transmission, many NICUs around the world closed to parental visiting and engagement in neonatal care.There is anecdotal evidence that, given pandemic-related restrictions, eHealth technologies, have increasingly been used in NICUs as a potential substitute for in-person parental presence.However, the constraints and enablers of technologies in these situations have not been exhaustively examined. This scoping review aims to update the literature on eHealth technology utilisation in the NICU and to explore the literature on the challenges and facilitators of eHealth technology implementation to inform future research.Methods and analysisThe five-stage Arksey and O'Malley methodological framework and the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology will serve as the foundation for this scoping review. Eight databases will be searched for the relevant literature published between January 2000 and August 2022 in either English or Chinese. Grey literature will be manually searched. Data extraction and eligibility screening will be carried out by two impartial reviewers. There will be periods of both quantitative and qualitative analysis.Ethics and disseminationSince all data and information will be taken from publicly accessible literature, ethical approval would not be necessary. A peer-reviewed publication will be published with the results of this scoping review.Trial registration numberThis scoping review protocol was registered in Open Science Framework and can be found here:https://osf.io/AQV5P/.