The Use of Telehealth in Home-Based Palliative Care: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews

Abstract

Telehealth plays a vital role in home-based palliative care by enhancing the quality of life for individuals with terminal conditions. This umbrella review aimed to systematically synthesize the existing evidence from systematic reviews regarding: (a) the benefits of telehealth use on the quality of care and (b) the impact of telehealth on the quality of life of terminally ill patients. This review registered in PROSPERO (CRD420250652549) and accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for systematic reviews. A literature search was conducted using electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Sage), covering the period from 2014 to 2024. Eligibility criteria included: systematic review studies focusing on telehealth in home, involving terminally ill patients, and addressing quality of life and care services. The risk of bias was assessed using AMSTAR-2 criteria. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyze and synthesize the findings. Out of 1352 articles identified, 17 articles met the inclusion criteria, encompassing a total of 293 studies. Findings show that the impact of telehealth on the well-being of patients and families, includes: improvement in patients’ quality of life, effects on physical and psychological symptoms, improvement of well-being, and improvement in self-management. Improving the quality of care also can optimize telehealth implementation. Finally, the implementation of telehealth in palliative care has shown positive impacts, including improvements in patients’ quality of life and quality of home-based palliative care. Further research is needed to explore the effectiveness of telehealth in palliative care across various other contexts.