Practical guidelines for developing digital health solutions to increase equity in dementia care in the UK

Background: Digital Healthcare Solutions (DHS) are transforming healthcare by improving patients' experiences, safety and quality of care. However, despite all the proposed and observed advantages of DHS, a growing body of research suggests that these DHS are not equally accessible to all. This research aimed to assess whether equity frameworks for digital health solutions can be used to guide the development of digital health solutions to increase access to care for dementia patients in the UK and, thereafter, develop practical guidelines to guide the design of equitable DHS products to address this growing issue.

Methods: A scoping review across four databases and grey literature was done to identify equity frameworks and design principles for DHS. The equity frameworks and design principles were analyzed to make recommendations on increasing equity in the product.

Results: 34 publications and reports met the inclusion criteria. Four equity frameworks were analyzed and one was selected. Equitable product development guidelines were created based on patient-centered design principles.

Conclusion: Although DHS can increase inequity in healthcare, concrete methods and practical guidelines can minimize this if DHS developers design for maximum equity and closely collaborate with healthcare providers and end-users in product development. Future research could use these guidelines to test usability for developers and investigate other equitable approaches like institutional barriers to adoption.