Communication Strategies to Promote Patient Engagement in Telemedicine: Systematic Review

TL;DR

This paper reviews communication strategies that help patients engage in telemedicine, offering a new framework combining personal, team, and system-level approaches.

Contribution

The study introduces a holistic framework integrating interpersonal, team, and system-level communication strategies for patient engagement in telemedicine.

Findings

Three levels of communication strategies (interpersonal, team, system) were identified to enhance patient engagement in telemedicine.

Qualitative methods like interviews and focus groups were commonly used to evaluate patient engagement.

The review highlights actionable guidance for improving telemedicine through communication strategies.

Abstract

The rapid growth of telemedicine offers convenience, flexibility, and accessibility for patients to have health care services worldwide. To succeed in telemedicine, health care practitioners and telemedicine tools must engage patients through effective communication. However, a research gap exists in understanding the communication strategies used in telemedicine and how they effectively engage patients.

This study aims to identify communication strategies influencing patient engagement in telemedicine with provider-patient interactions, as well as how included studies evaluate patient engagement through a systematic review.

We searched the literature comprehensively using 6 databases, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Embase, from inception to October 2025. We included empirical, English-language studies that examined communication strategies affecting patient engagement in telemedicine with provider-patient interactions. Studies lacking actual patients or provider-patient interactions in telemedicine were excluded. We used content analysis to identify texts that were related to Theme 1: the communication strategies affecting patient engagement, and Theme 2: evaluation of patient engagement. Coded texts were analyzed to develop subthemes and themes of identified communication strategies. Methods for evaluating patient engagement were summarized. A narrative synthesis was conducted because of heterogeneity across study design and outcomes. We used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool to assess the quality of research included in this study.

This study systematically reviewed 34 peer-reviewed articles, revealing 3 overarching themes of effective communication strategies that enhance patient engagement: interpersonal communication strategies, with 6 subthemes (building relationships, supportive attitude, interactive dialogic loop, nonverbal communication, professionalism and accuracy, and tailored communication); team-level communication strategies, with 3 subthemes (training and preparation, teamwork and care coordination, and cultural and linguistic sensitivity); and system-level communication strategies, with 3 subthemes (usefulness of information, ease of use, and data privacy and security). We also found that included studies predominantly used qualitative research methods, such as semistructured interviews and focus groups, to collect patient engagement data.

This review provides an innovative synthesis of communication strategies that promote patient engagement in telemedicine by integrating interpersonal (micro), team (meso), and system-level (macro) perspectives. Unlike previous reviews that focused on single aspects or levels of communication, this study offers a holistic framework that advances theoretical understanding of how multilevel communication strategies collectively shape patient engagement. Practically, the findings offer actionable guidance for health care professionals, telemedicine developers, and policymakers seeking to enhance the quality and sustainability of telemedicine services. In real-world settings, the identified strategies can inform professional training, platform design, and policy development to support patient-centered digital care. This review is the first to systematically bring together communication strategies for patient engagement in telemedicine across all 3 levels. Future research should build on this framework by developing and validating quantitative measures of patient engagement and examining the relationships between communication strategies and telemedicine outcomes.

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