Patient-Reported Benefits and Limitations of Mobile Health Technologies for Diabetes in Pregnancy: Protocol for a Scoping Review

BACKGROUND: For women with pre-existing and gestational diabetes mellitus, pregnancy involves specialized and intensive medical care to improve maternal and infant outcomes. Medical management for patients with diabetes in pregnancy typically occurs via frequent face-to-face outpatient appointments. Barriers to face-to-face care during the COVID-19 pandemic have signaled the need for high-quality, patient-centered virtual health care modalities, such as mobile health (mHealth). OBJECTIVE: The objective of the proposed scoping review is to identify the patient-reported benefits and limitations of mHealth technology among women with diabetes in pregnancy. We also aim to determine how the women’s experiences align with the best practice standards for patient-centered communication. METHODS: Arksey and O’Malley’s framework for conducting scoping reviews with refinements by Levac et al will be used to guide the conduct of this scoping review. Relevant studies will be identified through comprehensive database searches of MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, and PsycINFO. Following database searches, studies will be screened for eligibility at the title, abstract, and full-text level by two independent reviewers, with the inclusion of a third reviewer if required to reach consensus. Data charting of included studies will be conducted by one reviewer using a standardized data extraction form and verified independently by a second reviewer. Synthesis of results will be guided by Thomas and Harden’s “Methods for the Thematic Synthesis of Qualitative Research in Systematic Reviews.” RESULTS: As of August 2020, we have carried out the qualitative searches in the electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, and PsycINFO (Ovid interface) for a combined total of 8207 articles. Next, we plan to conduct the quantitative searches in the electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, and Emcare (Ovid interface). We also plan to review the reference lists of relevant studies to identify additional eligible studies. CONCLUSIONS: With the results of this review, we hope to describe the patient-reported benefits and limitations of mHealth technology for women with diabetes in pregnancy. Furthermore, we aim to determine how women’s experiences align with the best practice standards for patient-centered communication. Ultimately, our review can provide valuable information for guideline developers, policy makers, and clinicians related to mobile technologies to support virtual care delivery for women with diabetes in pregnancy. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/29727