The efficacy of microlearning in improving self-care capability: a systematic review of the literature

Abstract

Objective: to determine the effectiveness of microlearning in improving an individual's capability to self-care.Study design: Systematic review of the literature Background: The routine adoption of health seeking self-care behaviours can prevent or delay the appearance of various lifestyle diseases including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Microlearning delivers complex knowledge in fragments or bite-size 'nuggets' of information and has been applied as a novel intervention to improve individual's self-care capabilities. The aim of this research was to systematically review the literature to determine the effectiveness of microlearning in improving individual self-care capability.Methods: A search was conducted on 15 July 2019 across 5 electronic bibliographic databases: EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus. Randomised and non-randomised controlled trials, controlled before-after studies and interrupted time series studies, published between 1 January 1990 to 15 July 2019 and looking at individuals of all ages were included in the search. The search strategy included a keyword search and a string of "(modality) AND (learning) AND (micro)", which broadly described microlearning to cover all available articles that have used micro-format learning interventions. The search was combined with keywords and MeSH terms for self-care to identify studies of interests. Studies were screened by two reviewers independently and reported using a PRISMA flowchart. Data from included articles were extracted using Cochran Data Collection Form. Risk of bias was assessed using Version 2 of the Cochrane Risk-of-bias or Risk Of Bias In Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions.Results: 1310 articles were identified in the initial search. A total of 26 manuscripts were included in the narrative synthesis after title and abstract and full text screening was performed by two reviewers. Outcomes of studies were categorized. A total of 23 studies measured cognitive level self-care capabilities changes, and 91% showed statistically significant improvements. Only 11 studies measured actual self-care behaviour changes, from which only 36% showed statistically significant results. From the 26 manuscripts included, 25 articles were evaluated as having moderate to high risk of bias. Conclusion:Under certain conditions, or when combined with monitoring such as tracking daily medicine intake, microlearning can be effective in improving actual selfcare behaviours. Microlearning can also positively influence individuals' cognitive selfcare capabilities but was largely ineffective in triggering actual self-care behaviour change. More studies are needed to investigate the effectiveness of microlearning in improving self-care capabilities amongst the general population at scale.

What is the suitability of clinical vignettes in benchmarking the performance of online symptom checkers? An audit study

“… 32 Improving access to primary care and/or pre-primary care health advice is expected to reduce pressure on urgent and secondary care services, and this is a main driver for the use of a safe and effective OSC that offer congruent and safe triage recommendations to end-users in the community setting. The widespread adoption and diffusion of OSC with added functionality can help empower individuals, improve health literacy levels through microlearning, 33 and may even promote individual self-care capability and the rational use of products and services. This applies especially for OSCs that signpost users to relevant information that could help them determine possible next steps regardless of whether the OSC provided a triage recommendation or not.…”

What is the suitability of clinical vignettes in benchmarking the performance of online symptom checkers? An audit study

“…Improving access to primary care and/or pre-primary care health advice is expected to reduce pressure on urgent and secondary care services, and this is a main driver for the use of a safe and effective OSCs. The widespread diffusion and use of OSC with added functionality can help empower individuals, improve health literacy levels through microlearning (29), and promote individual self-care capability and the rational use of products and services. This applies especially for OSC that signpost users to relevant information that could help them determine possible next steps regardless of whether or not the OSC provided a triage recommendation or not.…”

A Text Message Intervention for Adolescents With Depression and Their Parents or Caregivers to Overcome Cognitive Barriers to Mental Health Treatment Initiation: Focus Groups and Pilot Trial

“…If they indicated not being ready, they received the messages, “Do you feel that your child could benefit from seeing a mental health clinician?” and “Do you have concerns about your child seeing a mental health clinician?” On the basis of their responses to these queries, an individual would receive psychoeducation aimed at reducing stigma, increasing perceived benefits of mental health care, or both. Psychoeducation was designed in a microlearning format [ 15 ] as daily true or false questions for 6 days (see Multimedia Appendix 1 for sample messages). To encourage conversations between parent or caregiver and child regarding depression and mental health care, T2C provided cues to action at the end of each day in the form of a talk tip, for example, “Sometimes starting the conversation is hard.…”