title: Teaching self-management skills in persons with chronic lower limb swelling and limited mobility: evidence for usability of telerehabilitation.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability of telerehabilitation as a method of teaching self-management for chronic swelling of the lower limbs in persons with limited mobility. An in-home telerehabilitation self-management education protocol for chronic swelling of the lower limbs, termed Telerehabilitation to Empower You to Manage and Prevent Swelling (TR-PUMPS), was implemented using the Versatile and Integrated System for Telerehabilitation (VISYTER) software platform. Participants (n=11) were 36-79 years old, predominately female (72.7%) and diagnosed with a variety of health conditions. Participants' perceived usability scores of the remote delivery of TR-PUMPS was high with a median score of 6.67 (range 4.90 - 7.00) on a Likert scale: 1= disagree to 7= agree. There was no correlation between participants' familiarity with information technology and their perception of telerehabilitation usability. These results support telerehabilitation as a viable method for teaching a home-based, self-management protocol for chronic swelling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Acute and Tertiary Care, School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: Becky L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Faett
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Brienza
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: Mary Jo
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Geyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Acute and Tertiary Care, School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: Leslie A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Hoffman
keywords: Telerehabilitation; chronic disease management and mobility limitation; lower limb swelling; self-management; telehealth; usability