Telebehavioral Health
Salvatore Volpe in Health Informatics, 2022
After several months of lockdown, the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of ending soon. Countries all over the world are learning to adjust to a new reality of remote interactions and increased dependence on technology. Various factors of the pandemic have led to an explosion of demand for teletherapy services, highlighting both the promises of this industry and the barriers it faces in attaining scalability. Parity laws present a major limitation in widespread telehealth implementation.32 While many states have expanded their statutes to require payers to cover and reimburse telehealth encounters the same as in-person visits, affordability will continue to be a deterrent for many who seek treatment.32 Additionally, although teletherapy can ease the burden of mental health provider shortages, it will not close the workforce gap.33 However, the challenges facing teletherapy will not inhibit its growth; rather, they will require a reckoning with how mental healthcare is viewed and prioritized.34 It is abundantly evident that telehealth is feasible, effective, and here to stay; the question is, how quickly can healthcare systems adapt?
Cervical cancer
David M. Luesley, Mark D. Kilby in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 2016
Radical radiotherapy is indicated for women unfit for surgery, or with bulky stage IB2 disease and more advanced disease. The goals of such treatment are to treat primary disease and to control metastatic pelvic lymph nodes. The radical dose is delivered by external-beam (teletherapy) and intracavitary treatment (brachytherapy). The standard technique now is of remote after-loading (e.g. using the Selectron). Intracavitary treatment is designed to give high doses locally to the primary site. Teletherapy is designed to treat any pelvic spread. The challenge in administering radiotherapy is in achieving an optimal dose throughout the primary tumour and pelvic sidewall without causing high morbidity. The peripheral field of treatment of intracavitary radiotherapy delivers an insufficient dose to treat the pelvic sidewalls. The dose-limiting normal tissues within the pelvis are the rectum posteriorly, the bladder anteriorly and any loops of small bowel within the pelvic radiation fields.
Brachytherapy
J. Richard Smith, Giuseppe Del Priore, Robert L. Coleman, John M. Monaghan in An Atlas of Gynecologic Oncology, 2018
Radiation therapy is one of several modalities of cancer care that can be used as a definitive, neoadjuvant or adjuvant, or palliative agent. Radiation therapy can be broadly categorized as either teletherapy (tele, Greek for far) or brachytherapy (brachy, Greek for near). Teletherapy can be delivered by a linear accelerator or by a radioactive source in the treatment machine such as a Cobalt-60 unit. Brachytherapy most commonly utilizes radioactive sources placed in a patient cavity (intracavitary) and/or in patient tissues (interstitial). Additionally, radiation sources can be placed on or near the surface of an organ. This technique is used commonly to treat skin cancer or malignancies of the eye. Both intracavitary and interstitial applications of brachytherapy are integral to treat malignancies of the gynecologic tract.
Teletherapy, AAC & COVID-19: the experiences of speech language pathologists providing teletherapy during a global pandemic
Published in Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 2023
Danielle T. Nader, Karen A. Erickson
The interviews were guided by a protocol (see Appendix A) but the flow of each interview was flexible. This allowed the interviewer to follow each participant’s line of response and collect in-depth data on each participant’s experience. Among other topics, participants were asked about (a) descriptions of children using aided AAC on their caseload (i.e., number of children served, diagnoses, intervention targets, and types of aided AAC used), (b) recollections of the transition from in-person intervention to teletherapy, (c) perceptions of differences between in-person therapy and teletherapy, and (d) perceptions of benefits and challenges of teletherapy. The interviews were conducted and recorded virtually, using WebEx3 virtual videoconferencing software, and lasted from 25 to 48 min (M = 36).
EMDR in Telemental Health Counseling for Healthcare Workers Caring for COVID-19 Patients: A Pilot Study
Published in Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 2020
Cyril Tarquinio, Marie-Jo Brennstuhl, Jenny Ann Rydberg, Fanny Bassan, Lydia Peter, Camille Louise Tarquinio, Yann Auxéméry, Christine Rotonda, Pascale Tarquinio
For obvious infectious control concerns, it is inadvisable to offer face-to-face psychotherapy when social distancing and self-quarantine measures are recommended. COVID-19 led many psychotherapists to develop empirical forms of teletherapy. Most often, these simply consist of adapting one’s usual practice to the use of videoconferencing platforms. Although many clinicians were adapting their practice to this way of working, teletherapy isn’t new. For the past decade and more, telemental health services have been growing, particularly in Canada and the United States. They are a recognized form of psychotherapy and have been the subject of assessments (e.g. Suler, 2001), although most studies are either descriptive or small-scale pilot experiments (Kramer et al., 2012). The field nevertheless relies on existing research evidence and has developed ethical and legal principles, as well as best practice guidelines (Luxton et al., 2016; Shore et al., 2018; Turvey et al. 2013; Van Daele et al., 2020). Telemental health services are recognized as effective for the assessment and diagnosis of many different populations (adults, children, the elderly, and ethnic minorities) in diverse contexts (emergency situations, home-based care), and seem comparable to their face-to-face equivalents (Hilty et al., 2013; Langarizadeh et al., 2017). Such telemental health services include new types of care (e.g., asynchronous, mobile, and collaborative care) and appear to be effective, inexpensive, while increasing the accessibility of care.
A comparative study of perspectives on telepractice service delivery among Egyptian and U.S. Speech and Language Pathologists
Published in Speech, Language and Hearing, 2023
Rehab Abdel Hafez Zaytoun, Musheera Anis Abdellatif, Aisha Fawzy Abdel Hady
Although telepractice holds the potential to overcome barriers imposed by the pandemic, especially for patients with a good educational and technological background (Chaudhary et al., 2021), in-person therapy is still considered the ‘gold standard’ for treatment. Many studies have been debating whether teletherapy is feasible and convenient over in-person therapy and they revealed mixed results (Aggarwal, Patel, & Ravi, 2021; Chaudhary et al., 2021; Macoir, Sauvageau, Boissy, Tousignant, & Tousignant, 2017; Tohidast et al., 2020; Valentine, 2014). The current paper tried to investigate four main areas of concern that we identified as possible barriers to teletherapy implementation and success.
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