Telehealth and Home Health Occupational Therapy: Clients’ Perceived Satisfaction With and Perception of Occupational Performance

Abstract

Home health care agencies are restructuring service delivery models to address quality of care and client satisfaction while containing costs. New regulatory changes and the public health emergency as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic brought immediate need for alternative care models. Telehealth has been recognized as a feasible means to provide health care. This quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study examined the feasibility of performing occupational therapy telehealth visits as adjunct to on-site visits for homebound clients (N=9). The OASIS data collection set, Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, and a survey were used to collect data. This combination of visits resulted in clinically and statistically significant improvements in client perception of performance and satisfaction. Findings showed that participants felt this visit model met their needs and they would recommend to others. Results of this study warrant a larger study involving physical therapy and speech language pathology disciplines.

Keywords

• canadian occupational performance measure (copm), cost-based home telehealth, home health care, outcome and assessment information set (oasis), occupational therapy, telehealth, telemedicine, telerehabilitation