@Article{info:doi/10.2196/46300,
author="Thomas, Donna Claire
and Litherland, Eva Frances
and Masso, Sarah
and Raymundo, Gianina
and Keep, Melanie",
title="Clinicians' Decision-Making Regarding Telehealth Services: Focus Group Study in Pediatric Allied Health",
journal="JMIR Form Res",
year="2024",
month="Jun",
day="7",
volume="8",
pages="e46300",
keywords="telehealth; pediatric; allied health; focus group; decision-making; community-based; counseling; speech pathology; occupational therapy; clinical services",
abstract="Background: Many allied health services now provide both telehealth and in-person services following a rapid integration of telehealth as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about how decisions are made about which clinical appointments to provide via telehealth versus in person. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore clinicians' decision-making when contemplating telehealth for their clients, including the factors they consider and how they weigh up these different factors, and the clinicians' perceptions of telehealth utility beyond COVID-19 lockdowns. Methods: We used reflexive thematic analysis with data collected from focus groups with 16 pediatric community--based allied health clinicians from the disciplines of speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, social work, psychology, and counseling. Results: The findings indicated that decision-making was complex with interactions across 4 broad categories: technology, clients and families, clinical services, and clinicians. Three themes described their perceptions of telehealth use beyond COVID-19 lockdowns: ``flexible telehealth use,'' ``telehealth can be superior to in-person therapy,'' and ``fear that in-person services may be replaced.'' Conclusions: The findings highlight the complexity of decision-making in a community-allied health setting and the challenges experienced by clinicians when reconciling empirical evidence with their own clinical experience. ",
issn="2561-326X",
doi="10.2196/46300",
url="https://formative.jmir.org/2024/1/e46300",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/46300",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38848121"
}