Telehealth Use By Persons with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Telehealth use rapidly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding if, and how, people from disabilities used telehealth during the pandemic is vital to assuring this evolving and increasingly common form of health care is equitably developed and delivered to avoid reproducing the health d...

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Main Authors: Carli Friedman, Laura VanPuymbrouck
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hawaii Pacific University Library 2021-12-01
Series:International Journal of Telerehabilitation
Subjects:
Online Access:http://telerehab.pitt.edu/ojs/Telerehab/article/view/6402
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author Carli Friedman
Laura VanPuymbrouck
author_facet Carli Friedman
Laura VanPuymbrouck
author_sort Carli Friedman
collection DOAJ
description Telehealth use rapidly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding if, and how, people from disabilities used telehealth during the pandemic is vital to assuring this evolving and increasingly common form of health care is equitably developed and delivered to avoid reproducing the health disparities people with disabilities already face. Our aim was to explore the use of telehealth among people with disabilities during the pandemic. We conducted a weighted secondary analysis of United States Census Bureau data (April-July 2021) from 38,512 (unweighted) people with disabilities. Our findings revealed 39.8% of people with disabilities used telehealth during the second year of the pandemic, ranging from 34.5% of people with hearing disabilities to 43.3% of people with mobility disabilities. There were also differences in telehealth use based on sociodemographics. Telehealth promises to open doors to more equitable health care access for many people with disabilities, but only if access barriers are removed.
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spelling doaj-art-ff63276457ba4ee2a0a7dd818a0adff02025-08-20T02:04:49ZengHawaii Pacific University LibraryInternational Journal of Telerehabilitation1945-20202021-12-0113210.5195/ijt.2021.6402Telehealth Use By Persons with Disabilities During the COVID-19 PandemicCarli Friedman0Laura VanPuymbrouck1CQL | The Council on Quality and LeadershipRush University Telehealth use rapidly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding if, and how, people from disabilities used telehealth during the pandemic is vital to assuring this evolving and increasingly common form of health care is equitably developed and delivered to avoid reproducing the health disparities people with disabilities already face. Our aim was to explore the use of telehealth among people with disabilities during the pandemic. We conducted a weighted secondary analysis of United States Census Bureau data (April-July 2021) from 38,512 (unweighted) people with disabilities. Our findings revealed 39.8% of people with disabilities used telehealth during the second year of the pandemic, ranging from 34.5% of people with hearing disabilities to 43.3% of people with mobility disabilities. There were also differences in telehealth use based on sociodemographics. Telehealth promises to open doors to more equitable health care access for many people with disabilities, but only if access barriers are removed. http://telerehab.pitt.edu/ojs/Telerehab/article/view/6402COVID-19 pandemic, Persons with disabilities, Telehealth
spellingShingle Carli Friedman
Laura VanPuymbrouck
Telehealth Use By Persons with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
International Journal of Telerehabilitation
COVID-19 pandemic, Persons with disabilities, Telehealth
title Telehealth Use By Persons with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full Telehealth Use By Persons with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr Telehealth Use By Persons with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Telehealth Use By Persons with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_short Telehealth Use By Persons with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_sort telehealth use by persons with disabilities during the covid 19 pandemic
topic COVID-19 pandemic, Persons with disabilities, Telehealth
url http://telerehab.pitt.edu/ojs/Telerehab/article/view/6402
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AT lauravanpuymbrouck telehealthusebypersonswithdisabilitiesduringthecovid19pandemic