ABSTRACT

Objective: This study aims to systematically review the telehealth services in occupational therapy and analyze the delivered contents of telehealth and its effectiveness. Methods: From January 2010 to May 2020, the articles on group programs for the elderly in the community were searched using the PubMed, Embase, and NDSL databases. Based on the selection criteria and exclusion criteria of the 254 articles, a total of 12 articles were finally selected and analyzed. Results: As a result, 6 (50.0%) of the one group pre-and post-group studies of evidence level Ⅲ were the most common. In addition, 3 (25.0%) of the studies were conducted on brain injuries, 3 (25.0%) of the studies were conducted on children, and 2 (16.7%) of the studies were conducted on the elderly. The delivered contents of the telehealth services included encouraging occupational participation, cognitive training, motor and language function improvement, wheelchair skills training, and home modification. Telehealth was found to be effective in occupational participation, quality of life, and some cognitive functions such as attention and visuo-motor scanning. Otherwise, there were no positive impacts on bimanual motor function, wheelchair skills capacity, or mobility. Conclusion: Telehealth might be the next paradigm in the near future. Various types of telehealth in occupational therapy have been developed through a service delivery model and showed positive effects on occupational participation, ADL performance, and quality of life. In the future, it will be necessary to develop and apply telehealth in domestic occupational therapy fields.