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Practitioner and Service User Perspectives on the Rapid Shift to Teletherapy for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum as a Result of COVID-19

Prior to COVID-19, research into teletherapy models for individuals on the autism spectrum was slowly progressing. Following the onset of COVID-19, teletherapy became a necessity for continuity of services, however, research was still emerging for how to translate best practice autism support to the...

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Autores principales: Johnsson, Genevieve, Bulkeley, Kim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8620428/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34831567
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182211812
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author Johnsson, Genevieve
Bulkeley, Kim
author_facet Johnsson, Genevieve
Bulkeley, Kim
author_sort Johnsson, Genevieve
collection PubMed
description Prior to COVID-19, research into teletherapy models for individuals on the autism spectrum was slowly progressing. Following the onset of COVID-19, teletherapy became a necessity for continuity of services, however, research was still emerging for how to translate best practice autism support to the online environment. The aim of this research was to gain insight into the rapid shift to teletherapy for practitioner and service users and the implications for the broader disability sector. Survey responses were collected from 141 allied health practitioners (speech pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, educators, and social workers) from four Australian states and territories. A total of 806 responses were collected from service users following an individual teletherapy session. Five themes were identified during the qualitative analysis; (1) technology—love it or hate it; (2) teletherapy as a “new normal”; (3) short term pain, for long term gain; (4) the shape of service delivery has changed; (5) is teletherapy always an option? Data from the quantitative analysis provided further insights into the first two themes. While COVID-19 has brought forward significant advances in telehealth models of practice, what is needed now is to delve further into what works, for who, and in which context, and explore the potentiality, efficiencies, and scalability of a post-pandemic hybrid approach. This will inform practice guidelines and training, as well as information for service users on what to expect.
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spelling pubmed-86204282021-11-27 Practitioner and Service User Perspectives on the Rapid Shift to Teletherapy for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum as a Result of COVID-19 Johnsson, Genevieve Bulkeley, Kim Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Prior to COVID-19, research into teletherapy models for individuals on the autism spectrum was slowly progressing. Following the onset of COVID-19, teletherapy became a necessity for continuity of services, however, research was still emerging for how to translate best practice autism support to the online environment. The aim of this research was to gain insight into the rapid shift to teletherapy for practitioner and service users and the implications for the broader disability sector. Survey responses were collected from 141 allied health practitioners (speech pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, educators, and social workers) from four Australian states and territories. A total of 806 responses were collected from service users following an individual teletherapy session. Five themes were identified during the qualitative analysis; (1) technology—love it or hate it; (2) teletherapy as a “new normal”; (3) short term pain, for long term gain; (4) the shape of service delivery has changed; (5) is teletherapy always an option? Data from the quantitative analysis provided further insights into the first two themes. While COVID-19 has brought forward significant advances in telehealth models of practice, what is needed now is to delve further into what works, for who, and in which context, and explore the potentiality, efficiencies, and scalability of a post-pandemic hybrid approach. This will inform practice guidelines and training, as well as information for service users on what to expect. MDPI 2021-11-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8620428/ /pubmed/34831567 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182211812 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Johnsson, Genevieve
Bulkeley, Kim
Practitioner and Service User Perspectives on the Rapid Shift to Teletherapy for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum as a Result of COVID-19
title Practitioner and Service User Perspectives on the Rapid Shift to Teletherapy for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum as a Result of COVID-19
title_full Practitioner and Service User Perspectives on the Rapid Shift to Teletherapy for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum as a Result of COVID-19
title_fullStr Practitioner and Service User Perspectives on the Rapid Shift to Teletherapy for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum as a Result of COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Practitioner and Service User Perspectives on the Rapid Shift to Teletherapy for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum as a Result of COVID-19
title_short Practitioner and Service User Perspectives on the Rapid Shift to Teletherapy for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum as a Result of COVID-19
title_sort practitioner and service user perspectives on the rapid shift to teletherapy for individuals on the autism spectrum as a result of covid-19
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8620428/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34831567
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182211812
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