BACKGROUND
E-Health interventions can favorably impact health outcomes and encourage health-promoting behaviors in children. More insight is needed from the perspective of children and their families regarding e-Health interventions, including features influencing program effectiveness.
OBJECTIVE
This review aimed to explore families’ experiences with family-focused web-based interventions for improving health.
METHODS
Five databases were searched on October 26, 2022 (updated on October 24, 2023) for studies reporting qualitative data on participating children and/or their parent/caregiver’s experiences with web-based programs. Study identification was performed in duplicate and studies were independently appraised for quality. Thematic synthesis was undertaken on qualitative data extracted from the results section of included articles.
RESULTS
Of 5524 articles identified, 28 articles were included. The studies examined the experiences of school-aged children (aged 5-18 years) and their parents/caregivers (mostly mothers) with 26 web-based interventions, developed to manage 17 different health conditions or influence health-supporting behaviors. Six themes were identified on families’ experiences: connecting with others, agency of learning, program reputability/credibility, program flexibility, meeting participants’ needs regarding program content/delivery, and impact on lifestyle.
CONCLUSIONS
Families positively perceived family-focused web-based interventions, namely finding value in quality connections and social support experienced, and features aligned with behavioral and self-management principles. Key considerations were highlighted for program developers and healthcare providers on ways to adapt e-Health elements to meet children’s and their families’ health-related needs. Continued research is needed, including the experiences of families from vulnerable populations and distinguishing the perspectives of children, their families, and parent/caregiver-child dyads, to inform the expansion of family-focused e-Health interventions in healthcare systems.
CLINICALTRIAL
The review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022363874); https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022363874