Effects of telehealth by allied health professionals and nurses in rural and remote areas: A systematic review and meta-analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2340/16501977-2297Keywords:
telemedicine, video conferencing, delivery of healthcare, treatment outcome, outcome assessment, rural population, rural health, remote consultation.Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To describe telehealth interventions delivered by allied health professionals and nurses in rural and remote areas, and to compare the effects of telehealth interventions with standard face-to-face interventions. DATA SOURCES: CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO and PubMed databases were searched. The content of relevant journals and published articles were also searched. STUDY SELECTION: Studies examining the effectiveness of allied health and nursing telehealth interventions for rural and remote populations were included in descriptive analyses. Studies comparing telehealth intervention with standard face-to-face interventions grouped by type of intervention approach were used to examine between-groups effect sizes. DATA EXTRACTION: Methodological quality of studies was rated using the QualSyst critical appraisal tool and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Evidence Hierarchy levels. DATA SYNTHESIS: After quality ratings, 43 studies were included. A majority of studies had strong methodological quality. The disciplines of psychology and nursing were represented most frequently, as were studies using a cognitive intervention approach. Meta-analysis results slightly favoured telehealth interventions compared with face-to-face interventions, but did not show significant differences. Interventions using a combined physical and cognitive approach appeared to be more effective. CONCLUSION: Telehealth services may be as effective as face-to-face interventions, which is encouraging given the potential benefits of telehealth in rural and remote areas with regards to healthcare access and time and cost savings.Downloads
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Copyright (c) 2017 Renee Speyer, Deborah Denman, Sarah Wilkes-Gillan, Yu-Wei Chen, Hans Bogaardt, Jae-Hyun Kim, Dani-Ella Heckathorn, Reinie Cordier
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