Effect of smartphone app on post-traumatic stress disorder in COVID-19 convalescent patients: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) seriously affects humans’ health worldwide physically and mentally. Studies revealed that the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increased under this condition. PTSD can change the structure of patients’ central nervous system, and increase the risk of anxiety or depression, thus greatly affecting the quality of patients’ life and their families. PTSD is preventable, and the effects of early prevention are better. Non-drug intervention can prevent or reduce the psychological sequelae after hospitalization, help patients understand the experience during hospitalization, and be beneficial to their psychological rehabilitation. Whether smartphone app based intervention can be an alternative therapy for PTSD in terms of COVID-19 convalescent patients is still controversial. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis and systematic review to evaluate the effects of smartphone app based intervention on PTSD in COVID-19 convalescent patients, so as to provide some guidance for clinical application. METHODS: The literatures that are related to the smartphone app based intervention and PTSD in COVID-19 convalescent patients from inception to February 2021 will be searched. The following databases are our focused areas: ClinicalTrials.gov, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials repositories, PubMed, EmBase, and Web of Science databases. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 2 investigators would independently screen the literature extract data and evaluate the risk of bias in the included studies. Meta-analysis was performed with RevMan5.3 software. RESULTS: The results of this meta-analysis will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of our study could provide evidence for the judgment of whether smartphone app based intervention is an effective intervention on PTSD in COVID-19 convalescent patients. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021240340.