The efficiency study of remote healthcare technology in stimulating development of early childhood with developmental delay: a pilot study

การศึกษาประสิทธิภาพการใช้เทคโนโลยีการดูแลสุขภาพทางไกลกับการกระตุ้นพัฒนาการในเด็กที่มีพัฒนาการล่าช้า: การศึกษานำร่อง

Abstract

The development stimulation of early childhood is critically important because children's brains during this period are growing rapidly and it affects a child’s learning ability in the future, especially the children with physical disabilities. The right stimulation is therefore required and must be assisted by a doctor or professional development therapist. But amid the problem of surveillance during COVID-19, traveling to see the doctor is difficult. Remote healthcare technology that enables information exchange between distant patients and healthcare professionals for easy access to health services symptom monitoring and diagnosis. It is thus an option to help children get developmental stimulation with the medical team. The objective of this research project was to compare the effects of stimulating development through remote healthcare technology with that of conventional methods in children with delayed development of motor skills. This is a qualitative research with the experimental and control groups of children aged 2-18 months from the High-Risk Clinic at Siriraj Hospital. The data was collected by using the MSEL development progress assessment together with interviewing the therapists according to the Adoption of Innovation Theory. The data was analyzed by descriptive data analysis. The results showed that stimulating developments through remote healthcare technology using social networks and face-to-face developmental stimulation were not dissimilar. Nevertheless, it helps reduce travel costs and facilitates patients to receive ongoing care.