Patients’ perspectives of tele-physiotherapy in a Nigerian low-resource setting

Background: Tele-physiotherapy, as pertinent to tele-rehabilitation, can facilitate health care continuity and needs to be accepted by both the health care providers and patients. Sufficient understanding of health information by the patient enhances his total participation in the management of his condition. In Nigeria, there is a dearth of published studies on the awareness and knowledge of patients on e-health and patient health education, particularly in tele-physiotherapy. Therefore, this study determined the knowledge, awareness, and perception of tele-physiotherapy among patients receiving physiotherapy in public hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria. Methods: The mixed-method study involved quantitative (cross-sectional) and phenomenological qualitative (focus-group discussion [FGD]). The participants for the study were patients receiving physiotherapy care from selected public hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria. Their knowledge, awareness, and perception (KAP) of tele-physiotherapy were assessed using a standard questionnaire, while the KAP was further explored through FGD. Results: Almost all the participants (150, 99.3%) lack KAP of tele-physiotherapy. They reported that they were not aware of the term “tele-physiotherapy”. Five themes were generated, which were categorized into subthemes that guided the discussion. The FGD participants were unaware of tele-physiotherapy but have fair knowledge and perception. They were able to identify challenges and facilitators to the implementation of tele-physiotherapy in Nigeria. Conclusion: Patients receiving physiotherapy in public hospitals in Ibadan have inadequate knowledge and awareness of tele-physiotherapy but fair perception.