Assessing dysphagia via telerehabilitation: Patient perceptions and satisfaction

Abstract

To gain insight into factors which may influence future acceptance of dysphagia management via telerehabilitation, patients' perceptions were examined before and after a telerehabilitation assessment session. Forty adult patients with dysphagia (M = 66y, SD = 16.25) completed pre-and post-session questionnaires which consisted of 14 matched questions worded to suit pre-and post-conditions.Questions explored comfort with the use of telerehabilitation, satisfaction with audio and video quality, benefits of telerehabilitation assessments and patients' preferred assessment modality. Questions were rated on a 5-point scale (1=strongly disagree, 3=unsure, 5=strongly agree). Patients' comfort with assessment via telerehabilitation was high in over 80% of the group both pre-and post-assessment. Pre-assessment, patients were unsure what to expect with the auditory and visual aspects of the videoconference, however there were significant positive changes reported postexperience. In relation to perceived benefits of telerehabilitation services in general, most patients believed in the value of telerehabilitation and post-assessment this increased to 90-100% agreement. Although 92% felt they would be comfortable receiving services via telerehabilitation, 45% of patients indicated ultimate preference for a traditional face-to-face assessment. The data highlight that patients are interested in and willing to receive services via telerehabilitation, however, any concerns should be addressed pre-assessment.

Efficacy of intensive voice therapy for patients with vocal fold nodules

“…Pre and post treatment, the majority saw telepractice as a way to improve access to healthcare, save time and money and believed telepractice to be a viable option to FTF therapy. These findings are consistent with much of the literature, with patients' perception of telepractice services in general to be very positive (Brennan, Georgeadis, Baron, & Barker, 2004;Constantinescu et al, 2010;Mashima & Doarn, 2008;Sharma et al, 2013). The results also align with the comments made by Mashima et al (2005) about the benefits of delivering voice therapy via telepractice.…”

“…Pre-treatment it was noted that patient expressed some concerns about using telepractice particularly regarding audio/visual issues, however these were resolved posttreatment. Similar data were reported by Sharma et al (2013) from their patient cohort who were to undergo dysphagia assessment remotely. As discussed by those authors, identification of any patient concerns pre-treatment can enable clinicians to address these concerns prior to sessions commencing (Sharma et al, 2013).…”

“…Similar data were reported by Sharma et al (2013) from their patient cohort who were to undergo dysphagia assessment remotely. As discussed by those authors, identification of any patient concerns pre-treatment can enable clinicians to address these concerns prior to sessions commencing (Sharma et al, 2013). Pre and post treatment, the majority saw telepractice as a way to improve access to healthcare, save time and money and believed telepractice to be a viable option to FTF therapy.…”

“…To evaluate the patients' perceptions of the telepractice sessions, a 16-item questionnaire modified from Sharma, Ward, Theodoros, and Russell (2013) was administered both immediately prior to and after voice therapy. In the pre-session questionnaire, the questions were worded in the future tense while the post-session questionnaire contained the same questions, only with grammatical modifications to reflect past tense (i.e., I will have/had no difficulty in seeing online speech pathologist).…”

A Proposal of an Ecosystem Based on Intelligent Ict Tools to Support the Diagnosis and Intervention of Patients With Communication Disorders

“…Nowadays, the approaches to provide dysphagia therapy are focused on the telerehabilitation area, with some promising results. For example, a pilot experiment to provide telerehabilitation for dysphagia treatment was performed by Sharma et al [15], where ten patients suffering from a range of swallowing difficulties were provided with two types of assessment: face-to-face and telerehabilitation. The results showed the good acceptance of patients to use the telerehabilitation-based therapy.…”