Use of wearables among Multiple Sclerosis patients and healthcare Professionals: A scoping review

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an increasingly prevalent chronic, autoimmune, and inflammatory central nervous system illness, whose common symptoms undermine the quality of life of patients and their families. Recent technical breakthroughs potentially offer continuous, reliable, sensitive, and objective remote monitoring solutions for healthcare. Wearables can be useful for evaluating falls, fatigue, sedentary behavior, exercise, and sleep quality in people with MS (PwMS). Objective: This scoping review of relevant literature explores studies investigating the perceptions of patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs) about the use of wearable technologies in the management of MS. Methods: The Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews was used. The search strategy was applied to the databases, MEDLINE via Ovid, Embase, APA PsycInfo, and CINAHL. Further searches were performed in IEEE, Scopus, and Web of Science. The review considered studies reporting quantitative or qualitative data on perceptions and experiences of PwMS and HCPs concerning wearables' usability, satisfaction, barriers, and facilitators. Results: 10 studies were included in this review. Wearables' usefulness and accessibility, ease of use, awareness, and motivational tool potential were patient-perceived facilitators of use. Barriers related to anxiety and frustration, complexity, and the design of wearables. Perceived usefulness and system requirements are identified as facilitators of using wearables by HCPs, while data security concerns and fears of increased workload and limited effectiveness in the care plan are identified as barriers to use wearables. Conclusions: This review contributes to our understanding of the benefits of wearable technologies in MS by exploring perceptions of both PwMS and HCPs. The scoping review provided a broad overview of facilitators and barriers to wearable use in MS. There is a need for further studies underlined with sound theoretical frameworks to provide a robust evidence-base for the optimal use of wearables to empower healthcare users and providers.