A feasibility study of video-based home telecare for clients with spinal cord injuries

Abstract

We carried out a feasibility study of the use of a home telecare intervention to promote skin and other self-care activities for clients with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) following their discharge from a rehabilitation facility. Eleven clients (mean age 38 years) participated in at least three video-sessions over a minimum of six weeks. The equipment used was a video-phone which could transmit both audio and still images over an ordinary telephone line. Video-sessions were followed by, or interspersed with, telephone calls. There was an average of 10 video-calls (range 3-25) and an average of six telephone calls (range 0-22) per client. The average length of the consultations was 23 min (range 15-34 min). The overall impressions of the 11 clients were very positive. Weekly telecare sessions for four to six weeks, followed by telephone counselling alone every other week for another four weeks, appears to be the appropriate sequence for most SCI clients.

Follow-up care for persons with spinal cord injury living in the community: a systematic review of interventions and their evaluation

“…Two-thirds of the follow-up care programmes included this in their aims. [10][11][12][13][14][16][17][18]22,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Six followup care programmes solely aimed at the prevention and/or treatment of a specified secondary impairment: pressure sores, [10][11][12][13]17 and urinary tract infections. 16 Beside this, several of these programmes also had a broader aim like the promotion of well-being and community reintegration.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15] Five of these six projects were performed by the same rehabilitation centre, that is, Shepherd Centre, Atlanta, USA. Since both the content and to some extent the aims were different for each follow-up care programme, all these projects were included in this review.…”

“…19,[21][22][23][24][25]27,32,33 Responsible care disciplines Almost half of the follow-up care programmes were performed by nurses. [10][11][12][13][14]16,22,[24][25][26]33 The remaining programmes were performed by several care disciplines. In the follow-up programme described by Pollack, 31 the participants had coresponsibility in the performance.…”

“…Designs of evaluation In all, 11 evaluations were preexperimental, 10,12,16,20,[22][23][24][25][30][31][32] three studies were quasi-experimental, 13,17,18 and two studies were experimental in design. 14,28 Number of patients The number of patients included in the evaluation studies varied from 1 to 519 persons with SCI.…”

“…16 Beside this, several of these programmes also had a broader aim like the promotion of well-being and community reintegration. 12,18,22,25,26,[28][29][30] In several publications 13,[18][19][20][21][22]28,29,32 the aim of the follow-up care was not stated explicitly, although in most cases an aim could be derived from the text.Target population of follow-up care programmes The target population in all follow-up care programmes was persons with SCI recently discharged from rehabilitation and living in the community. Some care programmes also involved in-patients.…”