Tele-physiotherapy innovation for children with difficult asthma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Acceptability, feasibility and efficacy of tele-physiotherapy for children with difficult asthma: service innovation post COVID-19 pandemic.
IRAS ID
291850
Contact name
Sejal Saglani
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
Asthma is the most common long-term paediatric lung disease, affecting 1.1 million children in the UK. Poorly controlled asthma results in missed school, reduced participation in sports, poor quality-of-life and increased anxiety. Children with poorly controlled, difficult-to-treat asthma are referred to the Royal Brompton Hospital (RBH) for detailed assessments by multidisciplinary teams.
The physiotherapist’s role is to recognise and treat causes of on-going symptoms e.g. altered breathing patterns and poor fitness. Clinic-based physiotherapy services have shown improvements in quality-of-life, asthma symptoms and reductions in GP attendance and hospitalisations.
Post COVID-19, healthcare must innovate and explore new technologies and telemedicine services. Telemedicine offers ease of access for patients and carers, reduced cost of travel and less time off work or school. Barriers to telemedicine include poor internet connections and access to technologies which particularly affects those living in poverty.
Aim
To assess the acceptability, feasibility and efficacy of tele-physiotherapy for children with difficult asthma.
Design
Prospective pilot mixed methods study.
Subjects
30 children with difficult asthma and their carers, physiotherapists conducting the intervention and at least 50% of the specialist children’s asthma team.
Method
Six 1:1 tele-physiotherapy sessions using Attend Anywhere with supplementary ‘on demand’ videos and electronic leaflets hosted on the RBH website and Beam platform. Six ‘live’ classes hosted on Beam as a series of interactive education sessions.
Electronic surveys before, during and after the intervention and post-intervention telephone semi-structured interviews.
Analysis
Feasibility
Technical, operational and economic feasibility assessed by comparing number of sessions completed during study to the previous year, uptake rates, drop-out rates, reasons for withdrawal, sessions completed on each platform, efficiency and accessibility of each platform.
Acceptability
Assessed using the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability to guide the design of electronic surveys.
Efficacy
Comparison of baseline and post intervention assessments of asthma control and quality-of-life.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/EM/0033
Date of REC Opinion
16 Feb 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion