A Pilot Telerehabilitation Program: Delivering Early Intervention Services to Rural Families

Abstract

The enTECH Telerehabilitation Program explored the use of telerehabilitation as an alternative service delivery model for early intervention therapy services. Utilizing the Kentucky Telehealth Network, two families living in rural Kentucky received occupational therapy services over a 12-week period. Following program implementation, qualitative data was collected using participant journals and interviews. Data analysis identified three thematic categories related to the program: benefits/strengths, challenges/weaknesses, and recommendations for program improvement. Results of the program evaluation indicated that telerehabilitation has the potential to cost-effectively meet the therapeutic needs of children living in rural areas where provider shortages exist. The enTECH Telerehabilitation Program serves as a model for how telerehabilitation can be used to deliver early intervention services to ameliorate health disparities and improve access to rehabilitation services.

Parental perceptions of information needs and service provision for children with developmental disabilities in rural Australia

“…A study by Tindall and Huebner [51] looked at speech therapy delivered by videophones and found that this method alleviated some of the burden of providing care, and produced similar results to face to face consultations. However, the use of digital technology is still limited by educational barriers and socioeconomic status [52,53]. In a recent study of occupational therapists in rural NSW, while the therapists used digital technology for their personal networks and professional development, there was limited use of technology for therapy provision.…”

Client, provider and community referrer perceptions of telehealth for the delivery of rural paediatric allied health services

“…A handful of telehealth studies examining stakeholder perspectives have been conducted in speech-language pathology for school-aged children [7][8][9][10][11] and occupational therapy early intervention. 12 No studies investigate barriers to communitybased multidisciplinary paediatric allied health telehealth from a multi-stakeholder perspective. Key stakeholders within this context include clients (parents and children), providers (allied health clinicians) and community referrers (eg, schools).…”

Telerehabilitation

“…Although the traditional telephone system continues to be a low-cost alternative for effectively conducting interview assessments by various health care professionals (Cooper et al, 2002;Winters, 2002), the proliferation of advanced communication technologies has broadened the possibilities of conducting evaluations using new and more sophisticated technology. Studies have described the use of telerehabilitation in areas that are of concern to occupational therapy such as evaluation and consultative services for wheelchair prescription (Barlow, Liu, & Sekulic, 2009;Schein, Schmeler, Brienza, Saptono, & Parmanto, 2008;Schein, Schmeler, Holm, Saptono, & Brienza, in press), neurological assessment (Savard, Borstad, Tkachuck, Lauderdale, & Conroy, 2003), lower-limb amputation care or ulcer management (Rintala et al, 2004), and early childhood intervention (Cason, 2009;Heimerl & Rasch, 2009). Schmeler, Schein, McCue, & Quetsch.…”