ReviewPalliative care and social practice2025
How, when and why is emotional support delivered using videoconferencing by adult palliative care services successful? A realist synthesis.
Review in Palliative care and social practice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mobile Health in Home-Based Palliative Care: Realist Review of Contextual Factors and Mechanisms Influencing Outcomes.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Videoconferencing (also known as telehealth) is part of digitally enabled healthcare provision ('eHealth') and its use in palliative care practice is increasing. There is uncertainty and limited evidence to guide organisations in how to use this technology to provide emotional support for patients, caregivers and the bereaved. Objectives: How, why, and in which circumstances can videoconferencing be used to successfully meet the emotional support needs of adults receiving palliative care? Design: Realist synthesis of literature was conducted according to RAMESES guidelines. Data sources and methods: Evidence of research studies and practice descriptions about successful emotional support interventions in palliative care by videoconferencing were identified from six databases (AMED, Medline, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, TRIP, Overton.io) and Google searching on16th January 2023. Normalisation Process Theory guided analysis and synthesis proceeded iteratively through retroductive reasoning. Results: Synthesis of 13 eligible sources (9 empirical studies and 4 practitioners' perspectives) generated 10 context-mechanism-outcome configurations and 5 hypothetical explanations for successful videoconferencing interventions. Potential causative links were made connecting social isolation, financial, educational and relational resourcing, and feelings of self-confidence, fear, or desires for belonging. Conclusion: Emotional support by videoconferencing in adult palliative care is feasible when it addresses feelings of isolation and maintains patient/carer engagement with services. It depends on stakeholders being motivated and resourced to adapt and innovate interventions appropriate for those with least familiarity or access to technology. To be successful staff need leadership and organisational cultures that enhance their professional self-worth and technical competencies, that foster inter-agency collaborations and mitigate digital exclusion of service users.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.