Reaching People With Disabilities in Underserved Areas Through Digital Interventions: Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Digital Health
• Disability Studies

Background:

• Rehabilitation interventions are crucial for improving physical functioning, mental status, and quality of life in people with disabilities.
• Digital interventions delivered via telehealth offer a feasible solution, particularly for those in remote and underserved areas.
• These digital approaches may be the sole accessible service for many individuals with disabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically evaluate the current landscape of digital interventions for people with disabilities residing in remote and underserved geographical locations.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature review was conducted using multiple databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Inspec).
• Article selection involved rigorous screening of titles, abstracts, and full texts, reducing 198 initial articles to 11 for final analysis.
• Data from the selected studies were summarized and discussed by two independent reviewers.

Main Results:

• The 11 included studies focused on diverse disabilities (developmental, mobility impairments) and conditions (stroke, multiple sclerosis, TBI).
• Interventions primarily utilized videoconferencing technology, with most studies targeting rural populations.
• Evaluation methods included pre-post comparisons, questionnaires, interviews, and some objective functional assessments.

Conclusions:

• While existing small-scale studies show positive outcomes for digital interventions, the evidence is insufficient to establish definitive effectiveness.
• Limitations include small sample sizes and a lack of randomized controlled trials.
• Further high-quality research is required to validate the efficacy of telehealth-based digital rehabilitation for people with disabilities.