Remote physiotherapy in Finland—suitability, usability and factors affecting its use

Abstract

Objective: To investigate physiotherapists’ views on suitability, usability and factors affecting the use of remote physiotherapy in Finland. Design: A cross-sectional, web-based questionnaire study. Subjects: Members of the Finnish Association of Physiotherapists and a private physiotherapy organisation. Methods: The questionnaire included questions on remote physiotherapy′s suitability (0 = not suitable at all to 10 = fully suitable) for different physiotherapy tasks (consultation, guidance and counselling, exercise, assessment and corrective act at the workplace), a reason to implement remote physiotherapy, how often remote physiotherapy is used at different stages of the physiotherapy process and factors affecting the use of remote physiotherapy. Results: The response rate was 9.9% (N=662/6525; 76.1% female). The mean suitability ‘score’ for remote physiotherapy differed from 7.6 (consultation, guidance and counselling) to 3.8 (corrective act at a workplace). Physiotherapists with at least one year experience of working with remote physiotherapy reported that it is better suited to consultation, guidance and counselling, exercise and assessment (p-values