Rural Early Intervention Therapists’ Perceptions of Emergency Remote Telehealth Use

Research

Objectives:
To investigate the use of emergency remote telehealth by occupational and physical therapists in rural early intervention setting.
To determine what supports are needed to facilitate effective telehealth use by occupational and physical therapists working in a rural early intervention setting.

Design: The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to collect and evaluate the perceptions of practicing early intervention occupational and physical therapists’ when implementing emergency remote services via telehealth. In addition, this study determined what resources (i.e., webinars, directions, etc.) are deemed beneficial to increase use of telehealth within therapy settings.
Setting: Occupational therapists and physical therapists were surveyed. Inclusion criteria required participants to be working in a rural, early intervention setting.
Participants: A convenience sample was obtained through the statewide early intervention provider. The survey reached approximately 180 occupational and physical therapists and 65 therapists participated. Demographic information was not collected from the participants to maintain anonymity.
Interventions: Participants voluntarily completed the electronic survey that was shared via an anonymous survey link. Twelve survey questions collected qualitative and quantitative data.
Main Outcome Measures: Data was collected and analyzed comparing the perceptions of occupational therapist and physical therapists. Qualitative questions were analyzed, coded and grouped by common themes.

Results: Occupational therapists generally ranked their abilities and comfort levels with administering assessments via telehealth lower than physical therapists. Suggested future supports for telehealth services included: in person training, webinars, IT training, mentoring. There were variations identified between the two professions surveyed in terms of future telehealth use with some indicating it was a detriment to delivery of services with others indicating it could be an option used in the post-pandemic setting.

Conclusions: Results of this research emphasized the high demand for continued education and training in the use of telehealth to address knowledge and skills gaps in occupational therapists and physical therapists working in rural, early intervention settings. Additional research on this topic would assist in expanding access for clients to the professions of occupational and physical therapy in rural areas.Author(s) Disclosures: No known conflicts.