UK paediatric speech and language therapists' perceptions on the use of telehealth in current and future clinical practice: An application of the APEASE criteria

CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes highlight promising, concerning and uncertain aspects of telehealth in paediatric speech and language therapy. SLTs value a flexible and tailored approach to service delivery and recommend that effective leadership, clear communication, ongoing policy and guidance development, upskilling of users and careful evaluation of impact are required to ensure optimal implementation. The APEASE criteria offer a valuable opportunity to enhance and streamline practice and research to ensure sustainable implementation of telehealth in the paediatric speech and language therapy services of tomorrow.WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject The COVID-19 pandemic led to the increased use of telehealth as a main mode of service delivery in paediatric speech and language therapy. Pre-COVID-19, evidence for the use of telehealth in this field included small-scale experimental studies that reported on children with particular disorders and explored telehealth outcomes in comparison to face-to-face delivery. The realities of at-scale clinical practice were not well-represented, and critical elements of service such as cost-effectiveness were often overlooked in the paediatric literature. Furthermore, despite emerging global evidence for temporary telehealth responses to the crisis in speech and language therapy, the long-term and future use of telehealth remains unclear. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The current study applied the lens of the A...
Source: International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Source Type: research