Vania Tjandra, Jason Yi, Emily Thompson, Jenna Benbaruj, Carolyn Canfield, Anurag Singh, Jane Jun, Femke Hoekstra
{"title":"Research Partnerships in Rural and Remote Virtual Health Innovation Projects: A Scoping Review.","authors":"Vania Tjandra, Jason Yi, Emily Thompson, Jenna Benbaruj, Carolyn Canfield, Anurag Singh, Jane Jun, Femke Hoekstra","doi":"10.1111/ajr.70220","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Partnerships with research users (e.g., communities, clinicians) are effective in supporting virtual health innovation (VHI) projects to co-develop, implement and evaluate sustainable, relevant innovations that improve care access in rural communities. However, building trusting relationships with underrepresented groups is challenging and time-intensive.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To synthesise partnership processes (principles, strategies) and effects (outcomes/impacts) from rural VHI projects.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A scoping review of peer-reviewed articles on rural VHI partnership projects (2020-2024) identified through five databases. Partnership principles (norms/beliefs), strategies (observable actions) and outcomes/impacts (short- to long-term effects) were extracted and analysed using directed content analysis. Reporting followed the PRISMA-ScR checklist.</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>Of 7413 abstracts, 85 articles met inclusion criteria. VHI partnership projects were conducted in 15 countries, covering telehealth, digital education and health apps. Nearly half (45.9%) involved partnerships with Indigenous communities. We identified 149 principles and 80 strategies. Principles commonly related to relationship building (55.3%), shared decision-making (51.8%) and knowledge co-production (49.4%). From nine evaluation studies, 36 outcomes/impacts were extracted, of which 81% were positive.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>While a range of partnership processes and effects were identified, reporting was inconsistent, and few studies incorporated formal evaluations. Future research should adopt systematic approaches to report and evaluate their partnership engagement, thereby expanding the evidence base and facilitating shared learning for more effective and meaningful engagement with rural communities.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This systematic overview of partnership processes and effects lays the groundwork for more effective, culturally safe engagement. Strengthening partnerships in these contexts can improve healthcare access and reduce rural health disparities.</p>","PeriodicalId":55421,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Rural Health","volume":"34 3","pages":"e70220"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13244183/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Australian Journal of Rural Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ajr.70220","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"NURSING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Partnerships with research users (e.g., communities, clinicians) are effective in supporting virtual health innovation (VHI) projects to co-develop, implement and evaluate sustainable, relevant innovations that improve care access in rural communities. However, building trusting relationships with underrepresented groups is challenging and time-intensive.
Objective: To synthesise partnership processes (principles, strategies) and effects (outcomes/impacts) from rural VHI projects.
Design: A scoping review of peer-reviewed articles on rural VHI partnership projects (2020-2024) identified through five databases. Partnership principles (norms/beliefs), strategies (observable actions) and outcomes/impacts (short- to long-term effects) were extracted and analysed using directed content analysis. Reporting followed the PRISMA-ScR checklist.
Findings: Of 7413 abstracts, 85 articles met inclusion criteria. VHI partnership projects were conducted in 15 countries, covering telehealth, digital education and health apps. Nearly half (45.9%) involved partnerships with Indigenous communities. We identified 149 principles and 80 strategies. Principles commonly related to relationship building (55.3%), shared decision-making (51.8%) and knowledge co-production (49.4%). From nine evaluation studies, 36 outcomes/impacts were extracted, of which 81% were positive.
Discussion: While a range of partnership processes and effects were identified, reporting was inconsistent, and few studies incorporated formal evaluations. Future research should adopt systematic approaches to report and evaluate their partnership engagement, thereby expanding the evidence base and facilitating shared learning for more effective and meaningful engagement with rural communities.
Conclusion: This systematic overview of partnership processes and effects lays the groundwork for more effective, culturally safe engagement. Strengthening partnerships in these contexts can improve healthcare access and reduce rural health disparities.
期刊介绍：
The Australian Journal of Rural Health publishes articles in the field of rural health. It facilitates the formation of interdisciplinary networks, so that rural health professionals can form a cohesive group and work together for the advancement of rural practice, in all health disciplines. The Journal aims to establish a national and international reputation for the quality of its scholarly discourse and its value to rural health professionals. All articles, unless otherwise identified, are peer reviewed by at least two researchers expert in the field of the submitted paper.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
