Abstract
The purpose of this study was to discern the barriers faced by school-based clinicians, chiefly occupational therapists (OTs) and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who provided telehealth in a primarily rural state during an unexpected declaration of a state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey results found the major barriers to implementation of telehealth services to be lack of practitioner training, a lack of access to technology for students, and concerns that the quality of intervention might not be equivalent to in-person service delivery. This article discusses both the benefits and barriers to providing telehealth services in school-based practice and offers considerations for future studies on this topic.
Highlights
The purpose of this study was to discern the barriers faced by school-based clinicians, occupational therapists (OTs) and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who provided telehealth in a primarily rural state during an unexpected declaration of a state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Survey results found the major barriers to implementation of telehealth services to be lack of practitioner training, a lack of access to technology for students, and concerns that the quality of intervention might not be equivalent to in-person service delivery
Of the 167 total responses to the original survey, 96 respondents answered the questions related to telehealth usage prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic (57.5%)
Summary
The purpose of this study was to discern the barriers faced by school-based clinicians, occupational therapists (OTs) and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who provided telehealth in a primarily rural state during an unexpected declaration of a state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey results found the major barriers to implementation of telehealth services to be lack of practitioner training, a lack of access to technology for students, and concerns that the quality of intervention might not be equivalent to in-person service delivery This article discusses both the benefits and barriers to providing telehealth services in school-based practice and offers considerations for future studies on this topic. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers to the practice of school-based occupational therapists and speechlanguage pathologists providing telehealth in a primarily rural state during an unexpected declaration of a state of emergency. Families were satisfied with the delivery of health care services, especially that telehealth enabled them to observe their children in their natural environments, supporting their daily engagement
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