Use of Digital Technologies to Maintain Older Adults’ Social Ties During Visitation Restrictions in Long-Term Care Facilities: Scoping Review

Célia Lemaire (), Christophe Humbert (), Cédric Sueur () and Céline Racin ()
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Célia Lemaire: MAGELLAN - Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon, ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]
Cédric Sueur: IPHC - Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - IN2P3 - Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Céline Racin: SULISOM - Subjectivité, lien social et modernité - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg

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Abstract: BackgroundDigital technologies were implemented to address the disruption of long-term care facility residents' socialization needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. A literature review regarding this topic is needed to inform public policy, facility managers, family caregivers, and nurses and allied health professionals involved in mediating the use of digital devices for residents' social ties.ObjectiveOur study outlines key concepts, methodologies, results, issues, and gaps in articles published during pandemic-related visitation restrictions.MethodsFollowing the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) protocol, a scoping review was conducted by searching 3 database aggregator platforms (EBSCO, ProQuest, and PubMed) for studies published in peer-reviewed journals from early 2020 to the end of June 2021, when the most stringent restrictions were in place.We included qualitative and quantitative studies, reviews, commentaries, viewpoints, and letters to the editors in French or English focusing on digital technologies aiming to support the social contact of residents in long-term care facilities during pandemic-related visitation restrictions.ResultsAmong 763 screened articles, 29 met our selection criteria. For each study, we characterized the (1) authors, title, and date of the publication; (2) country of the first author; (3) research fields; (4) article type; and (5) type of technology mentioned.The analysis distinguished 3 main themes emerging from the literature: (1) impact and expectations of remote social contact on the physical and mental health and well-being of the residents (n=12), (2) with whom or what the social contact took place (n=17), and (3) limitations and barriers to significant social contact related to digital technologies (n=14).The results first underlined the highly positive impact expected by the authors of the digital technologies on health and quality of life of residents of long-term care facilities. Second, they highlighted the plurality of ties to consider, since social contact takes place not only with family caregivers to maintain contact but also for other purposes (end-of-life videoconferences) and with other types of contact (eg, with staff and robots). Third, they exposed the limitations and barriers to significant contact using digital technologies and outlined the required conditions to enable them.ConclusionsThe review demonstrated the opportunities and risks outlined by the literature about the implementation of digital technologies to support remote social contact. It showed the plurality of ties to consider and revealed the need to evaluate the positive impact of remote contact from the residents' perspectives. Therefore, to go beyond the risk of digital solutionism, there is a need for studies considering the holistic impact on health regarding the implementation of digital technologies, including the meaning residents give to interpersonal exchanges and the organizational constraints.Trial RegistrationOSF Registries osf.io/yhpx3; https://osf.io/yhpx3

Keywords: social isolation; COVID-19 pandemic; remote care; nursing homes; social ties; digital devices; older adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age
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Published in JMIR Aging, 2023, 6, pp.e38593. ⟨10.2196/38593⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04118739

DOI: 10.2196/38593

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