Background: Digital technologies are increasingly integrating into people’s daily living environments such as schools, sport clubs, and health care facilities. These settings play a crucial role for health promotion and prevention because they affect the health of their members, as the World Health Organization has declared. Implementing digital health promotion and prevention in settings offers the opportunity to reach specific target groups, lower the costs of implementation, and improve the health of the population. Currently, there is a lack of scientific evidence that reviews the research on digital health promotion and prevention in settings. Objective: This scoping review aims to provide an overview of research targeting digital health promotion and primary prevention in settings. It assesses the range of scientific literature regarding outcomes such as applied technology, targeted setting, and area of health promotion or prevention, as well as identifies research gaps. Methods: The scoping review was conducted following the Levac, Colquhoun, and O'Brien framework. We searched scientific databases and gray literature for articles on digital setting–based health promotion and prevention published from 2010 to January 2020. We included empirical and nonempirical publications in English or German and excluded secondary or tertiary prevention and health promotion at the workplace. Results: From 8888 records, the search resulted in 200 (2.25%) included publications. We identified a huge diversity of literature regarding digital setting–based health promotion and prevention. The variety of technology types extends from computer- and web-based programs to mobile devices (eg, smartphone apps) and telemonitoring devices (sensors). We found analog, digital, and blended settings in which digital health promotion and prevention takes place. The most frequent analog settings were schools (39/200, 19.5%) and neighborhoods or communities (24/200, 12%). Social media apps were also included because in some studies they were defined as a (digital) setting. They accounted for 31.5% (63/200) of the identified settings. The most commonly focused areas of health promotion and prevention were physical activity (81/200, 40.5%), nutrition (45/200, 22.5%), and sexual health (34/200, 17%). Most of the interventions combined several health promotion or prevention methods, including environmental change; providing information, social support, training, or incentives; and monitoring. Finally, we found that the articles mostly reported on behavioral rather than structural health promotion and prevention. Conclusions: The research field of digital health promotion and prevention in settings is heterogeneous. At the same time, we identified research gaps regarding the absence of valid definitions of relevant terms (eg, digital settings) and the lack of literature on structural health promotion and prevention in settings. Therefore, it remains unclear how digital technologies can contribute to structural (or organizational) changes in settings. More research is needed to successfully implement digital technologies to achieve health promotion and prevention in settings.

Background: Digital games–based learning is a method of using digital games to impart knowledge. Virtual reality (VR) programs are a practical application of this method. Due to demographic changes, the nursing profession will become increasingly important. These VR applications can be of use in training nurses for future professional challenges they may encounter. The continuous development of VR applications enables trainees to encounter simulated real life effectively and to experience increasingly concrete situations. This can be of great importance in nursing education, since 3-dimensionality enables a better visualization of many fields of activity and can prevent potential future errors. In addition to this learning effect, VR applications also bring an element of fun to learning. Objective: The aim of this qualitative research effort is to observe the degree of acceptance of VR applications by nursing students in Germany. Various factors, including social influences, performance expectations, and effort expectations, are taken into consideration. Methods: With a qualitative cohort study, the acceptance of nursing students towards VR applications in anatomy teaching was determined. The 12 participants were first asked to fill out a quantitative questionnaire on their sociodemographic characteristics and the extent to which they valued and liked using technology. The participants were then allowed to test the VR application themselves and were finally asked about their experience in a qualitative interview. For the collection of data and the analysis of results, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology was used in this study. Results: Overall, the study shows that the interviewed persons rated the VR application quite positively. The greatest influence in this was the personal attitude towards technology; the higher this affinity is, the more useful the VR application appears. Social influences can also increase the participant’s own acceptance if peers have a positive attitude towards such applications. The study shows that the trainees' motivation to learn was increased by using VR. We believe this is because each trainee could learn individually and the VR application was perceived as an enjoyable activity. Nevertheless, the cost factor of implementing VR applications in nursing training is currently still an obstacle, as not every institution has such financial capacities. Conclusions: The extent to which the use of VR applications in the training of nursing staff is justified depends on the degree of personal acceptance. The collected results give good practice-oriented insight into the attitude of trainees towards VR. Many of the interviewed persons saw benefits in the use of VR technologies. As VR applications are constantly developing, it is necessary to conduct further studies on VR applications in nursing education and to include other possible disciplines in which these applications can be helpful.

Upper-extremity injuries and diseases rarely have life-threatening consequences, but failure to manage them properly can result in severe dysfunction. This article presents the current state of using virtual reality to support the rehabilitation process of patients with injuries and diseases of the upper extremities and points out their effects on upper-extremity functions. A scoping review was conducted to provide a comprehensive overview of the field of virtual reality for upper-extremity rehabilitation. PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched by two independent researchers between April and May 2021 to identify relevant publications and were examined according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. As a result of the literature review, 11 studies of various target groups were identified. Virtual-reality technologies were categorized into multisensory high-end systems and game-based systems. With respect to functional recovery, technologies based on virtual reality were not inferior to traditional rehabilitation. In addition, the users were highly motivated and satisfied. The results emphasize the need for stronger evidence-based virtual-reality technologies for rehabilitation of injuries and diseases of upper extremities.

Background: Depression is a major cause for disability worldwide, and digital health interventions are expected to be an augmentative and effective treatment. According to the fast-growing field of information and communication technologies and its dissemination, there is a need for mapping the technological landscape and its benefits for users. Objective: The purpose of this scoping review was to give an overview of the digital health interventions used for depression. The main goal of this review was to provide a comprehensive review of the system landscape and its technological state and functions, as well as its evidence and benefits for users. Methods: A scoping review was conducted to provide a comprehensive overview of the field of digital health interventions for the treatment of depression. PubMed, PSYNDEX, and the Cochrane Library were searched by two independent researchers in October 2020 to identify relevant publications of the last 10 years, which were examined using the inclusion and exclusion criteria. To conduct the review, we used Rayyan, a freely available web tool. Results: In total, 65 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. After categorizing the studies into the areas of prevention, early detection, therapy, and relapse prevention, we found dominant numbers of studies in the area of therapy (n=52). There was only one study for prevention, 5 studies for early detection, and 7 studies for relapse prevention. The most dominant therapy approaches were cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and problem-solving therapy. Most of the studies revealed significant effects of digital health interventions when cognitive behavioral therapy was applied. Cognitive behavioral therapy as the most dominant form was often provided through web-based systems. Combined interventions consisting of web-based and smartphone-based approaches are increasingly found. Conclusions: Digital health interventions for treating depression are quite comprehensive. There are different interventions focusing on different fields of care. While most interventions can be beneficial to achieve a better depression treatment, it can be difficult to determine which approaches are suitable. Cognitive behavioral therapy through digital health interventions has shown good effects in the treatment of depression, but treatment for depression still stays very individualistic.

Background: Depression is often associated with rapid changes in mood and quality of life that persist for a period of 2 weeks. Despite medical innovations, there are problems in the provision of care. Long waiting times for treatment and high recurrence rates of depression cause enormous costs for health care systems. At the same time, comprehensive limitations in physical, psychological, and social dimensions are observed for patients with depression, which significantly reduce their quality of life. In addition to patient-specific limitations, undersupply and inappropriate health care have been determined. For this reason, new forms of care are discussed. Smartphone-based therapy is considered to have great potential due to its reach and easy accessibility. Low socioeconomic groups, which are always difficult to reach for public health interventions, can now be accessed due to the high dispersion of smartphones. There is still little information about the impact and mechanisms of smartphone-based therapy on depression. In a systematic literature review, the health implications of smartphone-based therapy were presented in comparison with standard care. Objective: The objective of this review was to identify and summarize the existing evidence regarding smartphone-based cognitive behavioral therapy for patients with depression and to present the health implications of smartphone-based cognitive behavioral therapy of considered endpoints. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify relevant studies by means of inclusion and exclusion criteria. For this purpose, the PubMed and Psyndex databases were systematically searched using a search syntax. The endpoints of depressive symptoms, depression-related anxiety, self-efficacy or self-esteem, and quality of life were analyzed. Identified studies were evaluated for study quality and risk of bias. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 8 studies were identified. Results: The studies examined in this review reported contradictory results regarding the investigated endpoints. In addition, due to clinical and methodological heterogeneity, it was difficult to derive evident results. All included studies reported effects on depressive symptoms. The other investigated endpoints were only reported by isolated studies. Only 50% (4/8) of the studies reported effects on depression-related anxiety, self-efficacy or self-esteem, and quality of life. Conclusions: No clear implications of smartphone-based cognitive behavioral therapy could be established. Evidence for the treatment of depression using smartphone-based cognitive behavioral therapy is limited. Additional research projects are needed to demonstrate the effects of smartphone-based cognitive behavioral therapy in the context of evidence-based medicine and to enable its translation into standard care. Participatory technology development might help to address current problems in mobile health intervention studies.