Abstract
Schein RM, Schmeler MR, Holm MB, Saptono A, Brienza DM. Telerehabilitation wheeled
mobility and seating assessments compared with in person.
Objective
To evaluate the equivalency of wheeled mobility and seating assessments delivered
under 2 conditions: in person (IP) at a local clinic and via Telerehabilitation at
remotely located clinics.
Design
The study used a prospective, multicenter controlled nonrandomized design to investigate
wheeled mobility and seating assessments.
Setting
Five wheelchair clinics in Western Pennsylvania.
Participants
Participants (N=98) in need of new wheeled mobility and seating were recruited and
consented for IP assessments at the Center for Assistive Technology (n=50) and Telerehabilitation
(n=48) assessments at remotely located clinics.
Interventions
The telerehabilitation condition used a custom videoconferencing system to connect
a wheeled mobility and seating expert at the University of Pittsburgh's Rehabilitation
Engineering Research Center on Telerehabilitation to a remote clinic.
Main Outcome Measures
Study findings were based on the level of function the participants showed with their
new wheeled mobility and seating devices as measured by using the Functioning Everyday
with a Wheelchair (FEW) outcome tool.
Results
The results revealed no significant differences between the FEW pretest average or
item scores for the 2 conditions or the FEW posttest average or item scores except
for the FEW transportation item. The average FEW and FEW item scores reached the established
clinically relevant pretest-posttest difference of 1.85, and the change scores were
significantly different. The difference between FEW means based on posttest confidence
intervals indicated that telerehabilitation was equally effective as IP rehabilitation.
Conclusions
An expert practitioner located at least 125 miles away from each of the remote sites
used a secured videoconferencing system to consult from a geographic distance on wheeled
mobility and seating evaluations via telerehabilitation. Compared with participants
receiving standard IP care, the telerehabilitation treatment condition was equally
effective on all but 1 outcome.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
CAT (Center for Assistive Technology), CI (confidence interval), FEW (Functioning Everyday with a Wheelchair), IP (in person), RERC-TR (Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Telerehabilitation)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Footnotes
Supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, United States Department of Education (grant no. H133E040012) at the University of Pittsburgh, Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Telerehabilitation.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
