A Telerehabilitation Intervention for Persons with Spinal Cord Dysfunction

Abstract

Pressure ulcers and depression are common preventable conditions secondary to a spinal cord dysfunction. However, few successful, low-cost preventive approaches have been identified. We have developed a dynamic automated telephone calling system, termed Care Call, to empower and motivate people with spinal cord dysfunction to improve their skin care, seek treatment for depression, and appropriately use the healthcare system. Herein, we describe the design and development of Care Call, its novel features, and promising preliminary results of our pilot testing. Voice quality testing showed that Care Call was able to understand all voice characteristics except very soft-spoken speech. Importantly, pilot study subjects felt Care Call could be particularly useful for people who are depressed, those with acute injury, and those without access to quality care. The results of a randomized controlled trial currently underway to evaluate Care Call will be available in 2011.

Effectiveness of telerehabilitation interventions in persons with multiple sclerosis: A systematic review

“…Telerehabilitation has been evaluated widely in literature and was found to be feasible and effective in various neurological conditions including stroke (Chumbler et al, 2012;Johansson and Wild, 2011;Legg and Langhorne, 2004;Perry et al, 2011), Parkinson's disease (Giansanti et al, 2008) and other non-neurological conditions such as musculoskeletal conditions (Russell et al, 2011;Tousignant et al, 2011), injuries (Bendixen et al, 2008;Forducey et al, 2003;Houlihan et al, 2011) and chronic diseases (Steel et al, 2011). A systematic review analysing telerehabilitation therapies in stroke survivors showed positive outcomes, with a reduction in the risk of deterioration, improved ability to perform activities of daily living, reduced costs and duration of rehabilitation (Legg and Langhorne, 2004).…”

A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Telerehabilitation Interventions for Therapeutic Purposes in the Elderly

“…[8][9][10] In stroke patients, telerehabilitation helped to improve their ability to do daily works and reduced costs and the duration of rehabilitation programs. 11 Although the effectiveness of telerehabilitation interventions has been investigated in the treatment of stroke, [12][13][14] Parkinson's disease, 15 musculoskeletal disorders, 16,17 injuries and lesions, [18][19][20] and chronic diseases, 21 it is not clear how using this technology is effective compared with using traditional rehabilitation for therapeutic purposes in the elderly. Therefore, the present study aimed to answer the following research question: how effective are telerehabilitation interventions compared with traditional rehabilitation services for therapeutic purposes in the elderly.…”

Evaluation of a self‐efficacy enhancement program to prevent pressure ulcers in patients with a spinal cord injury

“…Pressure ulcers have a variety of negative effects on patients with a spinal cord injury, such as decreases in body image, self-esteem, social relationships, and social activities and increases in hospital readmission. Fortunately, preventive self-care behaviors can contribute to decreasing the incidence of pressure ulcers (Houlihan et al, 2011). Therefore, the most important means of preventing or reducing pressure ulcers is to improve and maintain patients' self-care abilities through skin care, positioning, weight shifting, suitable transfer, and control of the diet and weight.…”