Barriers and facilitators of eHealth services in Sri Lanka: a Systematic literature review

Abstract

At the initial stage, the electronic technology and computer applications were adapted to the health services. However, recently mobile technology has been a trend to adopt. Even though the world has adapted to eHealth and mHealth services, so far Sri Lanka has not used them adequately. The objective of this work is to provide a comprehensive list of relevant barriers to be considered and a list of facilitators to help in adopting successful eHealth services in Sri Lanka. The review includes the research articles published from 2007 - 2023 and indexed in the PubMed and Google Scholar databases. In the first stage, 1540 research articles were included in the search in Google Scholar databases using the search "Barriers and facilitators for eHealth + Sri Lanka" and 1249 research articles were included in the search in PubMed databases using the search "Barriers and facilitators for eHealth". After a careful assessment, 204 research articles from 37 different countries were selected for this review by following the 2020 PRISMA statement. A comparative analysis was used to conclude that barriers and facilitators for eHealth and factors that have an effect on the delivery of eHealth services in Sri Lanka. The most frequent barrier stated in the literature was ICT infrastructure, followed by ICT Literacy and Confidentiality. Further Added workload followed by funding and Motivation are stated as barriers. Motivation and ICT infrastructure were the most stated list of facilitators found in the literature followed by ICT Literacy / System Language, and funding for eHealth solutions. In Sri Lankan context there are very few references, the most frequent barrier stated in the literature was ICT infrastructure, followed by Confidentiality, Motivation and ICT Literacy. The motivation was the most stated success factor found in the literature. ICT infrastructure was the most frequent barrier stated in the literature both in Sri Lanka and other countries. ICT Literacy, Confidentiality, added workload, funding, and Motivation were more sequentially frequent barriers stated in the literature that may negatively affect adopting successful eHealth services in Sri Lanka. Motivation was the most stated success factor found in the literature both in Sri Lanka and other countries that positively affect adopting successful eHealth services.