Investigation of Physiotherapists’ Awareness and Opinions on Telerehabilitation in Turkey

Abstract

Background: Physiotherapists (PTs)’ awareness are important factors for both the successful implementation and development of telerehabilitation (TR).
 Objective: To investigate the awareness and opinions of PTs in Turkey about TR.
 Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a web-based survey created by researching the literature was administered to PTs in Turkey. The survey consisted of 3 sections: demographic information, awareness, and opinions, and contained 24 questions in total.
 Results: 237 PTs with an average age of 33.37 ± 9.36 years participated in the study. 76.26% (n=151) of PTs reported that they were aware of TR. The main ways to awareness were scientific meetings (64.90%) and lessons (64.24%). The leading reasons for unaware of TR were that it wasn’t included in the curriculum (85.11%) and wasn’t used at all in the institutions where they worked and/or did their internships (80.85%). It was observed that the majority of PTs (65.7%) never used TR in their clinical practice. The factors limiting the use of TR were mainly reported as lack of knowledge about information and communication technologies (ICT) (87.88%) and patient compliance (82.32%).
 Conclusion: It was determined that most of the PTs in Turkey were aware of TR but didn’t use TR in their clinical practices. Lack of knowledge about ICT and patient compliance were found to be the main factors limiting the use of TR. We think that the findings of this study may be important for the future of TR in Turkey.