A systematic literature review on mHealth related research during the COVID-19 outbreak

Purpose - Using smart mobile devices, called mobile health (mHealth), facilitates providing health services, speeds up the process and reduces the costs and complications of direct services. Also, mHealth has many capabilities and applications in epidemic and pandemic outbreaks. This study aimed to systematically review the mHealth adoption researches in epidemic/pandemic outbreaks and provide some suggestions for future research for tackling for COVID-19.Design/methodology/approach - The results produced in this study are based on the literature analysis of 36 articles on mHealth adoption. To find the relevant studies; searches were done in PubMed, Google, Web of Science and Scopus by related keywords during 2020-2022. After selecting the studies based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, data were collected by using PRIZMA methods for systematically reviewing the literature.Findings - Of the 727 retrieved studies, 36 studies related to mHealth services during the pandemic situation were included. This has been performed by collecting data including demographic details, methodological details, limitations and significance of relationships between the constructs from the available articles based on the mHealth services. All studies emphasized the positive effect of mHealth for usage in epidemic/pandemic outbreaks.Research limitations/implications - The main applications of mHealth for epidemic/pandemic outbreaks included public health aspects, data management, educational programs, diagnosis as well as treatment. mHealth is an appropriate method for encountering epidemic/pandemic outbreaks due to its extensive applications. In the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, mHealth is one of the best choices to use in the patient-physician relationship as Tele-visits, using in fever coach, providing real-time information for healthcare providers, population monitoring and detecting the diseases based on data obtained from different locations. These findings will help the mHealth providers to design their services accordingly.Originality/value - This study contributes to the researchers and academicians by providing relevant information regarding the mHealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first time initiative to explore the research questions and future research direction for the researchers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Based on this, we present a comprehensive and actionable research agenda and practical implications.