Pediatric Physical Therapy Telehealth and COVID-19: Factors, Facilitators, and Barriers Influencing Effectiveness-a Survey Study.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced pediatric physical therapy to move online almost overnight, therapists had little choice but to adapt in real time. This survey study asked pediatric physical therapists about their experiences transitioning from in-person to telehealth sessions, using open-ended questions and a rating scale to capture what helped or hindered the switch. The analysis identified three main themes: how engaged caregivers were during sessions, how well technology worked, and how therapists showed resilience in adapting their approach.

Therapists also rated child and caregiver interaction, internet connection quality, and broader family factors as the elements most tied to whether telehealth felt effective. The findings offer a picture of therapist experience and perceived barriers rather than a measured comparison of outcomes between telehealth and in-person care. Because this is a qualitative survey of therapists' perceptions, it cannot say whether children's actual physical progress differed between delivery modes, only how the clinicians experienced the shift and what factors they associated with sessions going well or poorly.

During the pandemic, many pediatric physical therapy sessions moved from clinics and homes onto video calls, and this study asked the therapists themselves what made that shift work or not work. Researchers collected written responses and ratings from pediatric physical therapists about their telehealth experiences and looked for common patterns. What stood out most was how much caregiver involvement mattered.

Therapists described that when a parent or caregiver was actively engaged during the video session, things tended to go more smoothly. Reliable internet access and other family circumstances also came up repeatedly as important.

Therapists also talked about needing to be resilient and creative in adapting their usual approach to a screen-based format. This study reflects therapist perceptions and experiences, not a direct measurement of whether children improved as much through telehealth as through in-person visits. It offers useful context about what shapes the telehealth experience, but it does not tell us how effective telehealth was for any individual child.

This is a summary of research, not medical advice. Talk to your own healthcare provider about anything affecting your care.

This qualitative survey study explored pediatric physical therapists' experiences transitioning to telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, using thematic analysis of responses to three open-ended questions plus descriptive statistics from a multipart Likert scale item. Three overarching themes emerged: caregiver engagement, technology, and resilience, with subthemes of personal attributes, equity, and COVID-specific considerations.

The Likert data reinforced these themes, with child/caregiver interaction, internet connection, and family factors rated as the most important determinants of perceived telehealth effectiveness. As a qualitative, self-report survey design, this study captures therapist-perceived facilitators and barriers rather than measured treatment outcomes, and it cannot establish whether telehealth produced comparable functional gains to in-person therapy. Sample characteristics, response rate, and potential selection bias among survey respondents are not detailed in the abstract, which limits generalizability.

The findings are best interpreted as implementation-focused insight, useful for understanding contextual factors like caregiver participation and technology access that may influence how telehealth sessions unfold, rather than as evidence of clinical effectiveness or a basis for comparing service delivery models on outcome measures.