Stakeholders needs and readiness towards implementation of Telepractice for identification and Rehabilitation of children with hearing and speech language disorders in the public health sector of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Telepractice as an evidence based practice has gained momentum over the last two decades However routine clinical adoption is not spontaneous Implementation science facilitates stakeholder engagement and the assessment of needs and plans The study aims to assess the needs related to audiology and speech language pathology services for children under six years of age and readiness for a telepractice based model of care for diagnostic and rehabilitation services among stakeholders within the public sector in Tamil Nadu A cross sectional study design was used The qualitative methods of focus group discussions and semi structured interviews were conducted for parents of children with disabilities and health care providers A quantitative community survey was conducted on parents of children with no known disabilities A deductive inductive method of analysis was used Community survey responses were analyzed using percentage analysis The results were classified based on the constructs of Bowens feasibility framework demand need for telepractice acceptability of telepractice integration and practicality of telepractice The different cadres of health care providers and parents considered the existing services to be inadequate The health care providers expressed interest in utilizing technology yet they needed capacity building with suitable training in telepractice Parents perceived telepractice as beneficial yet they felt a hybrid method would be more suitable with sufficiently interspersed inperson visits Parents believed that training and community awareness was necessary before implementing a technology based model of services The studys findings guided the fine tuning of the proposed comprehensive telepractice model for hearing and speech language services for children in this rural district newline