A survey on advantages and disadvantages of telerehabilitation by speech-language-hearing therapists in Japan

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic has had a major impact on speech-language-hearing therapists (SLHTs) in Japan. Although there have been reports of telerehabilitation in Japan, the actual situation has not been reported. Therefore, we examined the merits and demerits of telerehabilitation in speech-language-hearing therapy after the COVID-19 outbreak and explored its potential for speech-language-hearing therapy in the future. SLHTs nationwide were asked to respond to a survey form developed by the authors using Google Forms. The survey period was between October 26 and December 31, 2023. Participants were divided into two groups according to their experience of telerehabilitation (with experience/WE group and without experience/WO group), and they were asked about the advantages and disadvantages of telerehabilitation. We received responses from 214 SLHTs (95 males, 119 females), with 28 (13.1%) in the WE group. In the WO group , 3 categories (occupational, infectious, and differences between inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation) were identified as advantages of telerehabilitation, and 2 (equipment and clinical) as disadvantages. The WO group identified 4 categories (environmental, clinical, provider, and infectious) as advantages and 3 (system, equipment, and clinical) as disadvantages. The reason why most of the responses in the advantage category were from the perspective of infection prevention may be because this survey was conducted after the COVID-19 outbreak; the difference seen between the two groups may suggest that the clinicians in the WO group, who had never experienced telerehabilitation, had wariness toward telerehabilitation. It is important to accumulate more evidence in the future.

Short Communication: The advantages and disadvantages of telerehabilitation in speech-language-hearing therapy after the COVID-19 pandemic were examined to explore the potential of telerehabilitation in speech-language-hearing therapy in the future in Japan. SLHTs nationwide were invited to respond to the survey. The large number of responses in terms of infection prevention in the advantages may be due to the fact that this survey was conducted after the COVID-19 outbreak. In the group that had no experience with telerehabilitation, it is speculated that the clinicians were cautious about telerehabilitation.