The Role of Mobile Health in Supporting Cancer Prevention, Detection, Treatment and Palliative Care in Low and Middle Income Countries: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Cancer is one of the non-communicable diseases with high morbidity and mortality rates, particularly in low-and-middle income countries. Increasing cancer burden is attributable to lifestyle risk factors, poor health system infrastructures, rapid population growth and ageing. These challenges are predicted to persist for years to come; thus the cancer burden is feared to become a major public health crisis hence need for innovative approaches to manage it. Though the widespread use of mobile health technologies in low and middle income countries can potentially address these challenges, evidence on mobile health use has not been fully explored. This study aim to examine the existing published and unpublished literature on the use of mobile technology-based interventions designed to support cancer prevention, detection, treatment and palliation in LMICs. The study adapted a scoping review approach using Arksey & O’Malley (2005) methodological framework. Six electronic databases; Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science and WHO Global Health Library were systematically searched for relevant studies between 1990 to 2014. The search also included additional sources from trial registers, Google, Google Scholar and reference lists. The search yielded 523 articles of which 16 were reviewed, one of these being an ongoing trial. The key findings revealed that mHealth technologies had significantly contributed to the positive outcomes in the cancer care in various contexts with all mobile technology-based features used showing improvement in care delivery. The cell phones were the common mobile device used (46.6% of the studies) followed by Smartphone (26.6%), while SMS was a commonly used mHealth feature. Mobile health interventions predominantly targeted cancer screening and diagnosis in the continuum of care, with less focus on treatment and palliation support. In conclusion, mobile health interventions have a high potential to transform cancer services in low resource settings. However, there is a paucity of evidence on mobile health interventions for cancer care. Most of the reviewed studies were descriptive, hence the need for robust studies with multidimensional focus, including control of risk factors, treatment compliance and palliative care.