Use of apps to promote childhood vaccination: a systematic review protocol

Background: The decline in the uptake of routine childhood vaccinations has resulted in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccination apps can be used as a tool to promote immunization through the provision of reminders, dissemination of information, peer-support and feedback. Objective: The aim of this review is to systematically review the evidence on the use of apps to support childhood vaccination uptake, information storage and record sharing. Methods: We will identify relevant papers by searching electronic databases: PubMed, EMBASE (Ovid), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ERIC and ClinicalTrials.gov. We will review the reference lists of those studies that we include to identify relevant additional papers not initially identified using our search strategy. In addition to the use of electronic databases, we will search for grey literature on the topic. The search strategy will include only terms relating to or describing the intervention, which is app use. As almost all titles and abstracts are in English, 100% of these will be reviewed, but retrieval will be confined to those in the English language. We will record the search outcome on a specifically designed record sheet. Two reviewers will select observational and intervention studies, appraise the quality of the studies and extract the relevant data