Article

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.
- Télémédecine

Langue : ANGLAIS