BACKGROUND
The use of digital health technologies (DHT) in general and digital nudging within those in particular is rapidly growing. Digital nudges have the potential to impact the prevention of diseases and treatment of patients. DHTs such as telehealth services can increase the quality of life of patients, serve as an additional resource in healthcare settings as they are provided today, and support patients in preparation for treatment or the treatment itself. Although digital nudges have been explored and studied in the context of prevention and treatment, there is a need to further explore ways in which they can be used for patients in DHTs. There is a need to understand how DHTs that rely on digital nudges can be utilized. In light of that, there is a need for a systematic literature review on the topic.
OBJECTIVE
We synthesize research regarding how digital nudging can be utilized to enhance DHTs. Addressing the research question: “How can digital nudges be used within digital health technologies in healthcare settings to support the prevention and treatment of illnesses?” systematically analyzing the use of digital nudging within the domain of healthcare settings.
METHODS
A systematic review based on the PRISMA guidelines was conducted by searching the following databases: Scopus, PubMed, ACM Digital Library, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore. In total, there were 2995 papers after excluding duplicates. Through a selection process, we arrived at 136 peer-reviewed papers that were read after which the last inclusion step in the systematic review yielded 50 papers that were included in the analysis.
RESULTS
We classify these contributions across ten established digital nudging categories. Furthermore, our findings indicate that digital nudging within DHTs is prominently used for patients in the context of (i) metabolic and physical activity, (ii) treatment adherence, (iii) addiction disease, (iv) rehabilitation, (v) mental health, and (vi) pediatrics.
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we show that there is a need to carefully consider the digital nudges embedded into DHTs as digital nudging is powerful but should be used carefully. The main contribution is an in-depth analysis of the literature that engages with the intersection between digital nudging and digital health technologies.
CLINICALTRIAL