Telerehabilitation Needs: A Bidirectional Survey of Health Professionals and Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury in South Korea

Abstract

Objective: To assess multiple facets of awareness, understanding, value, needs, and desirability to resolve issues regarding unmet medical needs of individuals with a disability by adopting telerehabilitation. The survey included collection and analysis of current services as well as of supplementary and future services of rehabilitative interventions in South Korea. Study Design and Participants: Thirty-six health professionals who were members of the Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine and 57 individuals with spinal cord injury responded to a survey of those belonging to two non-profit professional groups, one group belonging to the Korean Spinal Cord Injury Association and joining the National Spinal Cord Injury Wheelchair Games and the other group belonging to the Jeong-Sang-Hye (High Quad Spinal Cord Injury Association) and having joined one of the focus groups of the Korea National Rehabilitation Research Institute. The two surveys were designed specifically for investigating each group's perspectives of awareness, understanding, value, needs, and desirability of telerehabilitation. Results: The survey responses indicated that there is great interest in the possibility of telerehabilitative services among individuals with spinal cord injury. In particular, there was a strong interest expressed in services that can be used to resolve issues on unmet medical needs of individuals with a disability related to health monitoring, sustaining health, rehabilitation interventions, and independence of activities of daily living. Conclusions: Telerehabilitation holds great promise as a bridge to traditional face-to-face clinical service delivery. From the results, there are a few categories in the survey that indicate notable differences between the two groups regarding the awareness, desirability, order of preference in rehabilitation service, and telerehabilitation expenses.

Patient and health care professional perspectives on using telehealth to deliver pulmonary rehabilitation

“… 29 The patient experience of rehabilitation is very important, and a variety of needs assessments with patients and HCPs have been used to identify interest in rehabilitation programs and help with their design. 37 , 38 The ongoing assessment of new programs using qualitative methods also helps to understand the patient experience and identify important issues. 39 – 41 …”

The effectiveness and satisfaction of web-based physiotherapy in people with spinal cord injury: a pilot randomised controlled trial

“…shown that telerehabilitation is generally well received, yet few studies have been 58 conducted investigating the effectiveness of telerehabilitation for administering home 59 exercise for people with SCI (14). Kowalczewski et al (15) investigated a 6 week 60 telerehabilitation programme to improve hand function in 13 people with tetraplegia 61 in which participants were provided with a laptop, webcam and internet connection.…”

Models of Telehealth Service Delivery in Adults With Spinal Cord Injuries: Scoping Review

“…Overall, 11 articles specifically focused on prevention, treatment, or self-management of pressure ulcers and wound care (see Multimedia Appendices 4 and 5 ) [ 30 , 34 , 37 , 53 - 59 , 72 ]. Out of the 11 articles, 4 (36%) studies used a videophone (Picasso AT&T) modality to transmit still images and audio over a standard telephone line and to hold audio-video consultation sessions with the SCI population [ 30 , 37 , 53 , 54 ].…”

“…There was an upward trend in the number of publications since 2015. This upward trend may reflect an increase in the need for telehealth interventions, together with the availability, acceptability, and increased competency with telehealth technologies by health care professionals and patients with chronic neurologic conditions, particularly community-dwelling adults with SCI [ 2 - 5 , 7 - 9 , 11 , 14 , 17 - 19 , 21 - 24 , 26 - 28 , 30 , 33 ,​ 35 , 37 , 40 - 46 , 48 - 51 , 54 , 56 , 59 , 62 , 64 , 67 , 69 ]. Additionally, there was inconsistency in reporting the duration of interventions and frequency of contact with the providers.…”