A Scoping Review of Australian Allied Health Research in eHealth
BMC Health Services Research
Iacono, T., Stagg, K., et al. (2016).
BMC Health Services Research, 16(1), 543.
This scoping review compares the provision of allied health services via an e-health service delivery model to in-person services for patients in Australia. While 44 studies are included in this review, 28 are specific to speech-language pathology services provided via telehealth.
No funding received
January 2004-June 2015
Primary studies (not further specified)
44 total studies included in the review; 28 studies specific to speech-language pathology
<div>Five studies investigating the use of telepractice to provide evidence-based fluency interventions to children, adolescents, and adults found telehealth "to be at least as effective as therapy delivered face-to-face, with both parent and client satisfaction reported" (p. 4).</div>
<div>Efficacy studies investigating the ability to provide speech-language pathology intervention via telepractice demonstrated "similar intervention outcomes across e-health and face-to-face delivery, but the actual experience of e-health was at best a simulated one in many studies" (p. 5).</div>
<div>Studies investigating the ability to conduct speech-language pathology assessment via telepractice "demonstrated good agreement between measures recorded or clinician judgement made across face-to-face and the telerehabilitation system" (p. 4). Many of the studies used simulated telepractice settings.</div>
<div>Speech-language pathology client perspectives "reflected a more positive attitude and willingness to participate in e-health" (p. 5). Audiology client perspectives "suggested a lack of awareness of tele-enabled service delivery and a preference for in-person consultations" (p. 5).</div>
