Tele-Rehabilitation; A Concept Analysis

Abstract

The rapid advancement of digital health technologies has significantly transformed healthcare delivery and expanded the use of remote healthcare services. Telerehabilitation has emerged as an important approach for providing rehabilitation services through information and communication technologies, enabling healthcare professionals to deliver assessment, intervention, monitoring, and patient education remotely. Despite its increasing adoption across healthcare systems, the concept of telerehabilitation remains inconsistently defined in the literature, leading to variability in its interpretation and implementation. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze and clarify the concept of telerehabilitation using the Walker and Avant concept analysis framework. A review of relevant literature addressing telerehabilitation, digital rehabilitation technologies, and remote rehabilitation services was conducted to identify the defining attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents of the concept. The analysis revealed five key defining attributes of telerehabilitation: remote delivery of rehabilitation services, the use of information and communication technologies, interaction between healthcare professionals and patients, monitoring and feedback mechanisms, and the implementation of structured therapeutic rehabilitation interventions. The findings also identified important antecedents, including technological infrastructure, access to digital devices, trained healthcare professionals, and institutional support, while the main consequences included improved access to rehabilitation services, enhanced patient engagement, and clinical outcomes comparable to traditional face-to-face rehabilitation. Clarifying the concept of telerehabilitation contributes to a stronger theoretical understanding of remote rehabilitation services and supports the development of standardized definitions and clinical frameworks that may guide future research and practice in rehabilitation sciences.