Behavioural Interventions delivered to people in Rural areas via Telehealth: A narrative systematic review of studies from the last 12 years

Abstract

People who live in rural areas have historically experienced a disparity when receiving behavioural health services. Specialty treatment providers are often located in cities and require people who need help to travel great distances. The recent advent of COVID 19 has highlighted this issue but has also pushed forward the necessity of developing alternative means of service delivery which can be beneficial for people in rural areas. One such alternative is telehealth, which utilises telecommunications technologies in place of traditional media. Clients could receive much needed treatment via synchronous telehealth using videoconferencing technology, asynchronous telehealth, which could be an effective consultation tool, patient monitoring with the help of fitness trackers or diaries and mobile health which makes use of applications on mobile devices. This review seeks to answer the following questions: A.) What behavioural interventions are currently being adapted to be delivered via telehealth to people in rural areas? B.) What types and methods of telehealth delivery is most used? C.) How effectively are these interventions being applied? D.) What elements make them effective? E.) What are the challenges of delivering ABA interventions via telehealth technologies to rural areas? F.) What solutions have the studies presented to overcome these challenges?