Two-sided perspective on tele-speech therapy: Experiences of stuttering patients, and their parents

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits and challenges of the tele-speech therapy from the perspective of patients who stutter, and their parents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 patients and three parents in two rehabilitation centers. Data were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis approach proposed by Graneheim and Lundman. Seven categories were determined: accessible treatment, motivation of comfort in tele-speech therapy, challenges of tele-therapy, satisfaction, virtual competency, lower quality compared to face-to-face therapy, and uncertainty about the effectiveness of tele-speech therapy. The participants had a two-sided perspective regarding tele-speech therapy. Positive experiences included benefitting from more qualified therapists at multiple locations, faster access to treatment, and saving cost and time. Negative experiences and challenges consisted of low-quality of technology infrastructure for rehabilitation including low quality of shared images and videos, ineffective communication, insufficient sympathy, indirect communication, and technology incompetency. Findings showed that the participants were interested in the application of tele-speech therapy, as this method could increase their accessibility and provide the opportunity to choose proper therapists. The determined benefits and challenges can provide the policy-makers with beneficial information to implement tele-speech therapy.

KEYWORDS:

• Remote services
• speech therapy
• stuttering
• telemedicine
• telerehabilitation
• videoconferencing

Acknowledgments

Authors appreciate the authorities and speech therapists of the rehabilitation centers. They also thank the patients and their families, who collaborated sincerely in this research.

Conflict of interests

Authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This study received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial, or non-profit sectors.