Action Research in eHealth design and implementation: A literature review of best practices and lessons learned

Background: Action Research (AR) is an established research framework to introduce change in a community following a cyclical approach and involving stakeholders as co-researchers in the process. In recent years, it has also been used for eHealth development. However, little is known about the best practices and lessons learned of utilizing AR for eHealth development.

Objective: This literature review aims to provide more knowledge on best practices and lessons learned from eHealth AR studies. Additionally, an overview of the context in which AR eHealth studies take place is given.

Methods: A semi-systematic review of 44 papers reporting on 40 different AR projects was conducted to identify best practices and lessons learned in the research studies while taking into account the particular contextual setting and used AR model.

Results: Important recommendations include attention for the training of stakeholders’ academic skills, as well as the various roles and tasks of action researchers. The studies also highlight the need for constant reflection and for accessible dissemination suiting the target group.

Conclusions: The literature review identified room for improvements regarding communicating and specifying the particular AR definition and applied model.