Brief Report: Telehealth Satisfaction Among Caregivers of Pediatric and Adult Psychology and Psychiatry Patients with Intellectual and Developmental Disability in the Wake of Covid-19.
Victoria Rosen, Elizabeth Blank, Erica Lampert and 6 others
PMID 35987932WHAT IT FOUND
Caregivers of patients with autism and intellectual disabilities reported high satisfaction with telehealth.
Ninety-two percent were satisfied overall, and eighty-five percent would choose telehealth or a mix of visits. Negative comments focused on technical issues and difficulty engaging patients, not the clinical content.
Key findings
01Ninety-two percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed they were satisfied with their telehealth appointment.
02Eighty-five percent of respondents indicated they would choose telehealth or a mix of telehealth and in-person visits for future care.
03The most common negative comments concerned technology difficulties, long waiting times, and difficulty keeping the patient engaged.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The response rate was very low (9%), so the results may reflect the views of caregivers who already had positive experiences with telehealth. The survey was anonymous, so it is unknown if some caregivers completed it more than once. The study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person care was restricted; satisfaction may have been influenced by the lack of other options. The survey did not collect data on race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, so it cannot show if access barriers affected satisfaction for these groups. This study reports caregiver satisfaction only. It does not provide evidence that telehealth is clinically effective compared to in-person therapy.
Declared interests
None reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret high caregiver satisfaction as evidence that telehealth is clinically effective or superior to in-person therapy. The study measured perception during a pandemic when in-person options were limited, and it did not assess patient outcomes or compare the quality of care delivered.