A Comparison of Televideo and Traditional In-Home Rehabilitation in Mobility Impaired Older Adults

This paper reports on a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of using interactive video conferencing technology to diagnose problems, prescribe interventions, and implement solutions for six mobility and transfer tasks in comparison with traditional home visits. Thirty-two community-dwelling adults with new mobility devices were randomized into either traditional in-home (n = 16) or telerehab (n = 16) intervention group. Each group received weekly, one-hour therapy sessions for four consecutive weeks. There were no significant differences in the number of problems identified, recommendations made, or number of recommendations implemented for five of the six tasks. The only task for which there were significant differences, moving from room to room, is likely attributable to the nature of the protocol which did not accommodate an inherent limitation in the technology, rather than a fatal flaw in the technology itself.