Abstract
Objective: The primary objective of this scoping review is to understand the extent and type of evidence in relation to digital health tools, specifically Health Apps with or without integrated AI components designed for neurodevelopmental screening and assessment of children aged 0-24 months. The secondary objective is to gain an understanding of parent- and clinician-user acceptability of these apps. Introduction: The digitisation of assessment and screening of children is an emerging area in both research and clinical contexts. Many Health Apps have been developed and tested worldwide for neurodevelopmental screening, many with the aim to improve efficiency in screening children for potential neurodevelopmental concerns or disorders. Currently, there are no literature reviews that summarise these Health Apps, their features, and acceptability to parents and clinicians. This is important as some tools have demonstrated effectiveness in the early detection of developmental concerns. By mapping the current literature and identifying the current Health Apps available and their acceptability, these tools could be better implemented for universal screening of children aged 0-24 months. This protocol describes the methods for a scoping review aiming to identify Health Apps for neurodevelopmental screening and/or assessment of children aged 0-24 months currently available across all contexts and regions, the developmental domains assessed and the assessment methods used within these apps, how they can support parents and clinicians in the screening process and lastly, to evaluate user acceptability. Inclusion criteria: Literature will be included in this review if it is related to a Health App that has been developed for the purpose of screening or assessment across any neurodevelopmental domain for children aged 0-24 months. These apps can have integrated AI components. Health Apps developed for either research, clinical or community settings will be included. Methods: A comprehensive search of five databases will be conducted (Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus). A search of Google Scholar will also be conducted to identify any other literature sources, and the first 100 results will be included. The Apple App Store and Google Play Store will be searched, and the first 20 results of five search strings in both stores will be included (200 results). Health Apps identified by the research team will also be included if aligned to the eligibility criteria. A data extraction tool will be used to synthesis data related to Health Apps identified for neurodevelopmental screening of infants, features of these tools, and user acceptability data. The results will be reported using PRISMA-ScR methodology as is appropriate due to the heterogeneity of literature to be included.
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