BETWEEN NOTIFICATIONS AND CONTINUITY OF CARE: THE ROLE OF SMARTPHONES IN SELF-CARE AND THE TREATMENT OF HEART FAILURE — A SCOPING REVIEW

Abstract

Heart failure (HF) is a chronic syndrome requiring treatment, symptom monitoring, and coordinated care. Self-care includes health maintenance, recognition of changes, and responses, but may be affected by treatment complexity, comorbidities, health literacy, social support, and access to care. Smartphones offer tools such as applications, medication reminders, symptoms and weight recording, messaging and remote monitoring. This scoping review protocol aims to map evidence on smartphone use to support self-care and treatment among adults living with chronic HF. It will identify intervention modalities and functions; describe populations, study designs, and care settings; map outcomes for self-care, treatment adherence, quality of life, and healthcare use; and identify barriers, facilitators, and knowledge gaps. The review will follow Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and be reported according to PRISMA-ScR. Searches will cover MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane CENTRAL, LILACS, IEEE Xplore, grey-literature sources, trial registries, and citation lists. Eligible evidence will include quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies, as well as reports published within the ten years preceding the final search, without language restrictions. Two reviewers will screen records and extract data. Findings will be synthesized descriptively and narratively; risk-of-bias appraisal and meta-analysis are not planned. The review will characterize technologies, implementation approaches, outcomes, user experiences, and equity considerations, while distinguishing smartphone-specific contributions from multicomponent interventions. The evidence map will highlight understudied populations and inform accessible, context-sensitive research and development without presuming clinical effectiveness.