Abstract

People are living longer and with aging come an increase in somatic diseases and possible psychological distress. There is an increased burden on health care globally to provide adequate psychosocial care or support for those most in need. The result from a literature review shows that current research is investigating how telemedicine, in particular the internet, can be used to assist in providing psychosocial care. The numbers of publications related to this area have steadily increased since 2003.However, the research is heavily focused on cancer, yet there are other prevalent and common somatic diseases that merit equal attention. More research and real-world implementation is urgently needed. Some of the challenges to using technology and the internet have been identified and the paper concludes with brief reflections on ways to increase the use of telemedicine in providing psychosocial care.

Download

Share

COinS
 

Technology and the Internet as a key component in psychosocial care of Somatic diseases

People are living longer and with aging come an increase in somatic diseases and possible psychological distress. There is an increased burden on health care globally to provide adequate psychosocial care or support for those most in need. The result from a literature review shows that current research is investigating how telemedicine, in particular the internet, can be used to assist in providing psychosocial care. The numbers of publications related to this area have steadily increased since 2003.However, the research is heavily focused on cancer, yet there are other prevalent and common somatic diseases that merit equal attention. More research and real-world implementation is urgently needed. Some of the challenges to using technology and the internet have been identified and the paper concludes with brief reflections on ways to increase the use of telemedicine in providing psychosocial care.