What and how are participatory approaches used in the adaptation of mobile health interventions intended for uptake and use by health care providers in the health system?
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Background: Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are used to support health promotion and strengthen health systems, but their success depends on adapting them to local contexts, workflows, and roles. Participatory approaches like co-design and stakeholder engagement are promoted to enhance mHealth interventions’ relevance, acceptability, and feasibility. However, the literature is fragmented, with inconsistent terminology, inconsistent reporting of participatory processes, which likely contributes to the limited syntheses available on adaptation. Objectives: This scoping review aims to map and synthesize existing evidence on how participatory approaches are used in adapting mHealth interventions for uptake and use by health system actors. It seeks to characterize the types of participatory approaches, identify the stages of adaptation where participation occurs, and will examine reported outcomes, challenges, and facilitators of participatory adaptation. Eligibility Criteria: Eligible studies include peer-reviewed articles published in English from 2000 onward that describe or evaluate participatory approaches to adapting mHealth interventions in health system settings. They must involve health system actors like community health workers, nurses, physicians, managers, or policymakers and report on participatory processes and/or adaptation outcomes.. Sources of Evidence: MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), and Scopus will be searched, with additional hand-searching of reference lists. Charting Methods: Study selection and data extraction will be conducted using Covidence. Data will be charted using a standardized extraction form and synthesized through descriptive analysis and qualitative content analysis. Conclusions: This scoping review will clarify how participatory approaches are operationalized in the adaptation of mHealth interventions within health systems, identify gaps in reporting and practice, and inform future context-sensitive and equitable digital health implementation efforts.
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7140832100
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