The Impact of Digital Technology on the Physical Health of Older Workers: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Abstract

Background: Digital technologies have penetrated most workplaces. However, it is unclear how such digital technologies affect the physical health of older workers.

Objective: This scoping review aims to examine and summarize the evidence from scientific literature concerning the impact of digital technology on the physical health of older workers.

Methods: This scoping review will be conducted following recommendations outlined by Levac et al and will adhere to the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines for reporting. Peer-reviewed papers written in English will be searched in the following databases: MEDLINE, Cochrane, ProQuest, Web of Science, Scopus, APA PsycInfo, and ERIH PLUS. The web-based systematic review platform Covidence will be used to create a data extraction template. It will cover the following items: study and participant characteristics, health measures, digital tool characteristics and usage, and research findings. Following the Population, Concept, and Context (PCC) framework, our review will focus on studies involving older workers aged 50 years or older, any form of digital technology (including teleworking and the use of digital tools at work), and how digital technologies affect physical health (such as vision loss, musculoskeletal disorders, and migraines). Studies that focus only on mental health will be excluded. Study selection based on title and abstract screening (first stage), full-text review (second stage), and data extraction (third stage) will be performed by a group of researchers, whereby each paper will be reviewed by at least 2 people. Any conflict regarding the inclusion or exclusion of a study and the data extraction will be resolved by discussion between the researchers who evaluated the papers; a third researcher will be involved if consensus is not reached.

Results: A preliminary search of MEDLINE, Epistemonikos, Cochrane, PROSPERO, and JBI Evidence Synthesis was conducted, and no current or ongoing systematic reviews or scoping reviews on the topic were identified. The results of the study are expected in April 2025.

Conclusions: Our scoping review will seek to provide an overview of the available evidence and identify research gaps regarding the effect of digital technology and the use of digital tools in the work environment on the physical health of older workers.

International registered report identifier (irrid): PRR1-10.2196/59900.

Keywords: aging; digital technology; digital tools; digitalization; migraine; mobile phone; mobility; musculoskeletal disorders; older population; older workers; physical health; scoping review; vision loss.