TY - JOUR AU - Holmen, Heidi AU - Riiser, Kirsti AU - Winger, Anette PY - 2020 DA - 2020/2/28 TI - Home-Based Pediatric Palliative Care and Electronic Health: Systematic Mixed Methods Review JO - J Med Internet Res SP - e16248 VL - 22 IS - 2 KW - eHealth KW - home-based KW - pediatric palliative care KW - pediatric KW - children KW - family KW - communication KW - palliative care AB - Background: Children and families in pediatric palliative care depend on close contact with health care personnel, and electronic health (eHealth) is suggested to support care at home by facilitating their remote interactions. Objective: This study aimed to identify and review the use of eHealth to communicate and support home-based pediatric palliative care and appraise the methodological quality of the published research. Methods: We conducted a convergent, systematic mixed methods review and searched Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (Medline), EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Web of Science, and Scopus for eligible papers. Studies evaluating 2-way communication technology for palliative care for children aged ≤18 years and applying quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods from 2012 to 2018 were eligible for inclusion. Quantitative and qualitative studies were equally valued during the search, screening, extraction, and analysis. Quantitative data were transformed into qualitative data and analyzed using a thematic analysis. Overall, 2 independent researchers methodologically appraised all included studies. Results: We identified 1277 citations. Only 7 papers were eligible for review. Evaluating eHealth interventions in pediatric palliative care poses specific methodological and ethical challenges. eHealth to facilitate remote pediatric palliative care was acknowledged both as an intrusion and as a support at home. Reluctance toward eHealth was mainly identified among professionals. Conclusions: The strengths of the conclusions are limited by the studies’ methodological challenges. Despite the limitless possibilities held by new technologies, research on eHealth in home-based pediatric palliative care is scarce. The affected children and families appeared to hold positive attitudes toward eHealth, although their views were less apparent compared with those of the professionals. Trial Registration: PROSPERO CRD42018119051; https://tinyurl.com/rtsw5ky SN - 1438-8871 UR - http://www.jmir.org/2020/2/e16248/ UR - https://doi.org/10.2196/16248 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32130127 DO - 10.2196/16248 ID - info:doi/10.2196/16248 ER -