Undertaking Rehabilitation Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Emergent Strategies From a Trainee-Faculty Workshop.
Kenneth S Noguchi, Linda Nguyen, Ava Mehdipour and 19 others
PMID 36188942WHAT IT FOUND
Rehabilitation researchers identified three pandemic challenges: keeping data collection safe, maintaining participant access, and sharing findings.
Proposed solutions included virtual toolkits for assessments, adjusting study designs for remote delivery, and contextualizing results to account for pandemic-related disruptions.
Key findings
01Three key research challenges and corresponding strategies emerged, including pandemic protocol adjustments, participant accessibility, and knowledge dissemination.
02Virtual toolkits containing assessment equipment and guided video sessions were used to continue data collection while adhering to physical distancing.
03Shifting in-person interventions to virtual formats risks treatment fidelity and safety, particularly when supervision or specific equipment is unavailable.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The findings reflect the perspectives of faculty and trainees from a single university institution in Canada. The workshop was held in late 2020, and the landscape of rehabilitation research has likely evolved since then. Perspectives from speech-language pathologists and research staff were not captured. It was not possible to disaggregate findings by sex, gender, or other intersectional perspectives. This is a perspective article based on workshop discussions, not a systematic review or empirical study of research outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these proposed strategies as evidence that virtual rehabilitation research is effective or equivalent to in-person methods. The paper reports on researcher discussions and plans, not on the outcomes of these strategies in actual patient trials.