TY - JOUR
T1 - Capabilities for Using Telemonitoring in Physiotherapy Treatment
T2 - Exploratory Qualitative Study
AU - van Westerhuis, Charlotte
AU - Sanders, Astrid F
AU - Aarden, Jesse J
AU - Major, Mel E
AU - de Leeuwerk, Marijke E
AU - Florisson, Nadine
AU - Wijbenga, Miriam H
AU - van der Schaaf, Marike
AU - van der Leeden, Marike
AU - van Egmond, Maarten A
N1 - © Charlotte van Westerhuis, Astrid F Sanders, Jesse J Aarden, Mel E Major, Marijke E de Leeuwerk, Nadine Florisson, Miriam H Wijbenga, Marike van der Schaaf, Marike van der Leeden, Maarten A van Egmond. Originally published in JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology (https://rehab.jmir.org).
PY - 2024/10/24
Y1 - 2024/10/24
N2 - BACKGROUND: Telemonitoring (TM), as part of telehealth, allows physiotherapists to monitor and coach their patients using remotely collected data. The use of TM requires a different approach compared with face-to-face treatment. Although a telehealth capability framework exists for health care professionals, it remains unclear what specific capabilities are required to use TM during physiotherapy treatments.OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify the capabilities required to use TM in physiotherapy treatment.METHODS: An exploratory qualitative study was conducted following a constructivist semistructured grounded theory approach. Three heterogeneous focus groups were conducted with 15 lecturers of the School of Physiotherapy (Bachelor of Science Physiotherapy program) from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Focus group discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Capabilities for using TM in physiotherapy treatment were identified during an iterative process of data collection and analysis, based on an existing framework with 4 different domains. Team discussions supported further conceptualization of the findings.RESULTS: Sixteen capabilities for the use of TM in physiotherapy treatment were found addressing 3 different domains. Four capabilities were identified in the "digital health technologies, systems, and policies" domain, 7 capabilities in the "clinical practice and application" domain, and 5 capabilities in the "data analysis and knowledge creation" domain. No capabilities were identified in the "system and technology implementation" domain.CONCLUSIONS: The use of TM in physiotherapy treatment requires specific skills from physiotherapists. To best use TM in physiotherapy treatment, it is important to integrate these capabilities into the education of current and future physiotherapists.
AB - BACKGROUND: Telemonitoring (TM), as part of telehealth, allows physiotherapists to monitor and coach their patients using remotely collected data. The use of TM requires a different approach compared with face-to-face treatment. Although a telehealth capability framework exists for health care professionals, it remains unclear what specific capabilities are required to use TM during physiotherapy treatments.OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify the capabilities required to use TM in physiotherapy treatment.METHODS: An exploratory qualitative study was conducted following a constructivist semistructured grounded theory approach. Three heterogeneous focus groups were conducted with 15 lecturers of the School of Physiotherapy (Bachelor of Science Physiotherapy program) from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Focus group discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Capabilities for using TM in physiotherapy treatment were identified during an iterative process of data collection and analysis, based on an existing framework with 4 different domains. Team discussions supported further conceptualization of the findings.RESULTS: Sixteen capabilities for the use of TM in physiotherapy treatment were found addressing 3 different domains. Four capabilities were identified in the "digital health technologies, systems, and policies" domain, 7 capabilities in the "clinical practice and application" domain, and 5 capabilities in the "data analysis and knowledge creation" domain. No capabilities were identified in the "system and technology implementation" domain.CONCLUSIONS: The use of TM in physiotherapy treatment requires specific skills from physiotherapists. To best use TM in physiotherapy treatment, it is important to integrate these capabilities into the education of current and future physiotherapists.
KW - Telemonitoring
KW - Physiotherapy
KW - Competences
U2 - 10.2196/56432
DO - 10.2196/56432
M3 - Article
C2 - 39447150
SN - 2369-2529
VL - 11
SP - e56432
JO - JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies
JF - JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies
ER -