One-to-One and Group-Based Teleconferencing for Falls Rehabilitation: Usability, Acceptability, and Feasibility Study.
Helen Hawley-Hague, Carlo Tacconi, Sabato Mellone and 4 others
PMID 33433398WHAT IT FOUND
Falls rehab via smartphone video was acceptable but unreliable for delivering exercises.
Poor connectivity, phone overheating, small screens, and safety concerns outweighed benefits; it may support follow-up calls, not replace face-to-face visits.
Key findings
01Lack of connectivity caused phones to overheat, freeze, or disconnect during Skype sessions.
02Only 2 patients were able to take part in group teleconferencing, and group sessions over 3/4G would not connect.
03Health professionals saw teleconferencing as potentially saving travel time and allowing monitoring of patients' adherence.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 7 patients took part, compared with the planned 20, so the usability findings are limited to a small sample. Only 1 falls service used the technology in practice; services 2 and 3 only saw a demonstration. Group teleconferencing was tested with only 2 patients, and it did not work over 3/4G, so group delivery is not established. The testing period was short, and a research team member was present during sessions, so safety and usability when patients used it alone were not tested. Patients with severe visual or hearing impairment and those unable to follow instructions were excluded, so it says nothing about those groups. The workshops were demonstrations, not full exercise sessions, and included community-dwelling older adults rather than the more frail patients in the usability study. Connectivity problems were tied to poor 4G and lack of Wi-Fi or landlines, especially in deprived areas of Manchester, so results may not transfer to places with better infrastructure. The study was designed to examine usability, acceptability, and feasibility, not to test whether teleconferencing reduces falls.
Declared interests
C Tacconi, SM, and LC own shares in mHealth Technologies srl, a University of Bologna spin-off company. No other funding source or conflict is stated in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that teleconferencing improves falls rehabilitation. This was a small usability and feasibility study, and the tested smartphone system was not reliable or adequate for delivering exercises.