Telehealth training boosts acceptance among optometry students
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Key takeaways:
- Total telehealth acceptance scores jumped from 66.1% to 73.98% after a training course.
- Students demonstrated significant improvement in working with technology and facilitating conditions for telehealth.
While most optometry students demonstrate high technology self-efficacy, they may require training to boost telehealth acceptance, according to research published in Clinical and Experimental Optometry.
“Whilst telehealth has existed for some time now, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased its uptake and utilization across health professions, and optometrists had to adapt to virtual patient care,” Jia Jia Lek, PhD, a lecturer in the department of optometry and vision sciences at the University of Melbourne, and colleagues wrote. “There is currently limited published literature on telehealth use in optometry, with the scope of optometry-facilitated telehealth varying between countries, including independent optometry practice and comanagement with ophthalmology.”
The researchers invited the university’s final-year optometry students to voluntarily participate in an online telehealth curriculum that included concepts and components of digital health and its delivery. In addition, participants completed pre- and post-learning surveys to evaluate technology self-efficacy and telehealth acceptance.
Eighty-five students were invited to participate, the majority of whom were women aged 20 to 29 years. Fifty-eight students completed the pre-learning survey, and 49 completed both the curriculum and post-learning survey.
Results of the pre-learning survey showed participants used between one and seven devices, with smartphones being the most frequently used. Nearly a third (32.8%) reported accessing the internet on average every 30 minutes, and almost half (46.94%) reported prior telehealth experience.
Post-learning technology self-efficacy scores demonstrated the greatest improvement in working with technology and the least improvement in emerging technology skills, with total self-efficacy scores rising from 83.8% to 87.8% after the course.
When assessing acceptance of telehealth, the greatest post-learning improvement was in facilitating conditions, and the least improvement was in habit. Total acceptance scores jumped from 66.1% to 73.98%.
The researchers reported no associations between scores and gender, number of devices and frequency of online use. However, a significant correlation was found between technology self-efficacy and telehealth acceptance after taking the course (P = .04).
“The barriers to telehealth adoption are wide-ranging, and more work is required in understanding current telehealth practices and attitudes in optometry, challenges in telehealth adoption and telehealth curriculum effectiveness,” Lek and colleagues wrote. “Understanding these will help educational institutions, professional bodies and policymakers in making decisions to support the implementation of telehealth successfully, in providing safe and effective care to the community.”
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