Awareness, acceptability, and willingness-to-pay for digital physiotherapy among patients in selected hospitals in a South-Western State of Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Digital physiotherapy in line with global health coverage has become a salient field of physiotherapy practice where routine and innovative forms of information and communications technology are employed with the aim of facilitating effective delivery and access to physiotherapeutic services and resources. This study evaluated and determined the socio-demographic correlates of awareness, acceptability, and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for digital physiotherapy among patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 92 consenting patients who were 18 years and older responded in this cross-sectional study. An adapted tool on awareness, acceptability, and WTP for telemedicine services was adapted for use in this study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, and percentages; inferential statistics of Chi-square was used for test of association. Alpha level was set at P < 0.05. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 52.40 ± 15.62 years. There was a high rate of unawareness (91.3%), moderate-to-high acceptability (87.0%) and high WTP (88.0%) for digital physiotherapy, respectively. There was no significant association between the socio-demographic factors and each of acceptability and WTP for digital physiotherapy (P > 0.05). Conclusion: In spite of low awareness of digital physiotherapy, Nigerian patients attending physiotherapy clinics are willing to accept and pay for its use irrespective of socio-demographic variations.