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The concept of telemedicine in pediatric rheumatology in Tunisia: Parents' perceptions
Yasmine Makhlouf1, Dorra Ben Nessib2, Hanene Ferjani2
1Mohammed Kassab National Institute of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology department, La Mannouba, Tunisia.
Insights
Parental willingness for telemedicine in pediatric rheumatology remains low, highlighting a need for education. Despite potential benefits like convenience, fears about evaluation accuracy and disease seriousness hinder adoption.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Rheumatology
- Health Services Research
- Digital Health
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic strained healthcare systems, impacting care for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).
- Telemedicine emerged as a potential solution to improve healthcare access and reduce costs for JIA patients.
- Understanding parental acceptance of telemedicine is crucial for its successful implementation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess parental willingness to adopt telemedicine for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) care.
- To identify factors influencing parents' acceptance or rejection of telemedicine services.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving structured phone interviews with parents of JIA patients and controls.
- Evaluation of parental perspectives and adherence intentions regarding telemedicine (TM).
Main Results:
- Key drivers for favoring TM included avoiding hospitals (32.5%), saving time (27.5%), and reducing school absenteeism (27.5%).
- Primary concerns against TM were fear of inaccurate physical evaluation (47.5%) and disease trivialization (38.5%).
- No association found between TM preference and COVID-19 history or device availability; however, lower adherence was noted for those living farther from hospitals, unfamiliar with TM, or with higher incomes.
Conclusions:
- Parental willingness to adopt telemedicine for pediatric rheumatology care is lower than anticipated.
- There is an urgent need for targeted education initiatives for parents and patients to promote the understanding and acceptance of telemedicine in pediatric rheumatology.
Introduction:
With the COVID-19 pandemic, health care systems are facing challenges in delivering proper patient care. Children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis require specialized and comprehensive attention. In this context, telemedicine is an alternative that has the potential to improve access to healthcare in addition to cost savings. The objective of our study was to evaluate parents' willingness for telemedicine and factors helping to adopt this alternative in the era of COVID-19.
Methods:
We undertook a cross-sectional study via structured phone interviews of parents' JIA patients as well as those with no established diagnoses. We evaluated their point of view and willingness to adhere to TM.
Results:
The study included 40 parents. The main reasons for favoring TM were avoiding hospitals during the pandemic (32.5%), time saving (27.5%) as well as avoiding school absenteeism (27.5%). The main reasons for preferring a live consultation were the fear of a possible discrepancy between physical and distant evaluation (47.5%) and the fear of the trivialization of the disease (38.5%). There was no association between preference for TM and a family history of COVID-19 (p = 0.704) as well as electronic devices afforded (p = 0.263). However, patients who lived away from hospital, not familiar with the concept of TM and with higher income adhered less to TM.
Conclusion:
Unlike the literature data, our study showed the low prevalence of parents willing to accept TM as a model of care. This imply an urgent need for parent and patient education to promote TM especially in pediatric rheumatology.
