Mobile apps for travel medicine and ethical considerations: A systematic review.
Travel Med Infect Dis
; 43: 102143, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1306479
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The advent of mobile applications for health and medicine will revolutionize travel medicine. Despite their many benefits, such as access to real-time data, mobile apps for travel medicine are accompanied by many ethical issues, including questions about security and privacy.METHODS:
A systematic literature review as conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Database screening yielded 1795 results and seven papers satisfied the criteria for inclusion. Through a mix of inductive and deductive data extraction, this systematic review examined both the benefits and challenges, as well as ethical considerations, of mobile apps for travel medicine.RESULTS:
Ethical considerations were discussed with varying depth across the included articles, with privacy and data protection mentioned most frequently, highlighting concerns over sensitive information and a lack of guidelines in the digital sphere. Additionally, technical concerns about data quality and bias were predominant issues for researchers and developers alike. Some ethical issues were not discussed at all, including equity, and user involvement.CONCLUSION:
This paper highlights the scarcity of discussion around ethical issues. Both researchers and developers need to better integrate ethical reflection at each step of the development and use of health apps. More effective oversight mechanisms and clearer ethical guidance are needed to guide the stakeholders in this endeavour.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Mobile Applications
Type of study:
Qualitative research
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Travel Med Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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