With growing access to the internet, online mindfulness programmes have become more commonly used to manage physical and mental health conditions. This scoping review aims to determine the nature and extent of the literature, and key characteristics, of online mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for adults with physical or mental health conditions.
A scoping review guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute framework.
MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, Allied and Complementary Medicine and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials.
Studies focusing on online MBIs, online mindfulness-based stress reduction and online mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in adults with a physical or mental health condition were included.
Study and participant characteristics, key intervention characteristics, outcome measures and results were abstracted.
84 studies were included. Online MBIs have been studied in many different physical and mental health conditions; however, 63 of the included studies were for physical health conditions. MBCT was the most common intervention type assessed, with 33 of the included studies assessing it. Regarding intervention characteristics, intervention duration was similar across intervention type at 8 weeks, with sessions led by therapists, clinicians or mindfulness instructors. Web-based and videoconferencing were the most common delivery formats. Intervention content generally remained similar to standardised MBIs, with the addition of psychoeducation and disease management. Many studies did not report on tailoring the intervention to the participant population. There was a lack of consistency in reporting intervention characteristics.
This review highlights some evidence for online mindfulness programmes for both physical and mental health conditions. However, intervention componentry remains somewhat obscure, and reporting on tailoring appears relatively sparse. Greater consistency in reporting intervention componentry will improve knowledge and study in this area and enhance the translation of these interventions to clinical settings.
To determine how high performing is defined in relation to a health system and chart the literature on the definitions and key concepts of high-performing healthcare systems.
Scoping review.
MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to July 2024. The grey literature was also searched.
Included studies reported on health systems and high performance to identify explicit definitions, research outcomes and knowledge gaps.
Two reviewers independently screened 5721 citations and 507 full-text articles, resulting in the inclusion of 35 primary articles and 47 companion documents in the review. Three independent definitions for a high-performance health system were identified. 24 research studies reported outcomes on the elements of a high-performing health system (58%), system evaluation (32%) and tool development or validation (10%). Knowledge gaps identified were the lack of a common definition, a lack of common indicators, strategies for moving evidence into policy and practice, and difficulties with comparisons across health systems.
We found limited definitions and a lack of empirical evidence on our topic. There is an opportunity for primary research in the area of health systems and high performance.