Abstract
Objectives: To conduct a critical appraisal of peer reviewed articles on the effectiveness of telemedicine on stigmatization and treatment burden in patients with health compromising lifestyles and chronic diseases.Methods: This study critically appraised peer-reviewed article on the effectiveness of telemedicine on stigmatization and treatment burden in patients with health compromising lifestyles and chronic diseases. Treatments included e-health interventions, information and communication technologies used in health care, internet-based interventions for diagnosis and treatments that encouraged collaborative care for patients with chronic diseases. This paper critically appraised the full text of each relevant peer-reviewed article adapting the Occupational Therapy Critically Appraised Topics (CATs) template while using the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine- Levels of Evidence (2011) model to assess for best evidence or quality. Results: Initial internet search using Psychinformation; PubMed; Medline; ProQuest; CINAHL; OT seeker and the Cochrane Library generated over 1450 titles/abstracts. Following abstract appraisal, 30 articles were selected for full text assessment. Five of the final articles selected for this critical appraisal alluded to the effectiveness of telemedicine in reducing the treatment burden of stigmatization on patients with chronic diseases. Majority of the appraised articles indicated the effectiveness of telemedicine in changing behaviours.Conclusions: All the appraised articles alluded to the effectiveness of telemedicine in curbing some of the treatment burdens of stigmatization for patients with health compromising lifestyles and chronic diseases. However, it is evident that the use of other intervention methods such as government policy, public education and patient empowerment in conjunction with telemedicine would better reduce the effect of stigmatization and facilitate the medical interventions for patients with chronic diseases.
Highlights
Stigma can be described as negative attitudes that affect people’s interactions and activities in a harmful way (Obesity Society, 2018)
All the appraised articles alluded to the effectiveness of telemedicine in curbing some of the treatment burdens of stigmatization for patients with health compromising lifestyles and chronic diseases
It is evident that the use of other intervention methods such as government policy, public education and patient empowerment in conjunction with telemedicine would better reduce the effect of stigmatization and facilitate the medical interventions for patients with chronic diseases
Summary
Stigma can be described as negative attitudes that affect people’s interactions and activities in a harmful way (Obesity Society, 2018). It can be expressed in various forms, such as verbal forms of prejudice (for instance, ridicule, teasing, insults, stereotypes, derogatory names, or through the use of pejorative language), physical stigma may include touching, grabbing, or other aggressive behaviours, or other barriers and problems caused by weight (for example, medical kit that is too small for obese patients, seats in public settings which do not fit obese persons, or stores which do not sell clothing in large sizes (Obesity Society, 2018).
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