Telehealth in paediatric physical therapy education: Strategies and perceptions of interns and caregivers of children with disabilities in Brazil

Abstract

AimsTo describe the implementation of paediatric rehabilitation telehealth at a physical therapy (PT) unit in Brazil during the COVID‐19 pandemic and to describe the perception about this modality by two groups: (1) undergraduate PT students using telehealth during their clinical rotations in this unit and (2) the caregivers of children with disabilities receiving the services.MethodsTwenty‐one PT interns (19 females; 25 ± 2 years of age) and seven caregivers (seven females; 40 ± 6 years of age) of seven children with disabilities (five females; 10 ± 4 years of age; five children diagnosed with cerebral palsy) responded to an online questionnaire about their experience with the telehealth programme. Participant attendance and frequency of objective responses were reported descriptively; open‐ended responses were analysed qualitatively and grouped according to broad themes.Results71.4% of interns rated telehealth as an excellent or good experience, and 28.6% did not appreciate it. In addition, 28.6% of them thought that telehealth should be part of the mandatory internship. Regarding caregivers, 85.8% judged the telehealth programme as excellent or good. Both interns and caregivers cited pros and cons related to technology, professional resources, communication skills and caregiver‐related aspects, among others.ConclusionsSpecific teaching strategies had to be utilised for implementation of telehealth. Despite being a novel modality for interns and caregivers, telehealth was well accepted.