This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0269216308100251v1 23/3/228    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Bensink, M. Articles by Wootton, R Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bensink, M. Articles by Wootton, R Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Using videotelephony to support paediatric oncology-related palliative care in the home: from abandoned RCT to acceptability study

Centre for Online Health, University of Queensland, Queensland m.bensink{at}coh.uq.edu.au

NR Armfield

Centre for Online Health, University of Queensland, Queensland

R Pinkerton

Queensland Children’s Cancer Centre, Queensland; University of Queensland, Queensland

H Irving

Queensland Children’s Cancer Centre, Queensland

AR Hallahan

Queensland Children’s Cancer Centre, Queensland; Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Queensland, Queensland

DG Theodoros

Centre for Online Health, University of Queensland, Queensland; Division of Speech Pathology, University of Queensland, Queensland; Telerehabilitation Research Unit, University of Queensland, Queensland

T Russell

Centre for Online Health, University of Queensland, Queensland; Telerehabilitation Research Unit, University of Queensland, Queensland; Division of Physiotherapy, University of Queensland, Queensland

AG Barnett

Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland

PA Scuffham

School of Medicine, Griffith University Queensland

R Wootton

Centre for Online Health, University of Queensland, Queensland; Scottish Centre for Telehealth, Aberdeen

Videotelephony (real-time audio-visual communication) has been used successfully in adult palliative home care. This paper describes two attempts to complete an RCT (both of which were abandoned following difficulties with family recruitment), designed to investigate the use of videotelephony with families receiving palliative care from a tertiary paediatric oncology service in Brisbane, Australia. To investigate whether providing videotelephone-based support was acceptable to these families, a 12-month non-randomised acceptability trial was completed. Seventeen palliative care families were offered access to a videotelephone support service in addition to the 24 hours ‘on-call’ service already offered. A 92% participation rate in this study provided some reassurance that the use of videotelephones themselves was not a factor in poor RCT participation rates. The next phase of research is to investigate the integration of videotelephone-based support from the time of diagnosis, through outpatient care and support, and for palliative care rather than for palliative care in isolation. Trial registration ACTRN 12606000311550

Key Words: clinical trial • cost-analysis • home telehealth • oncology • palliative care • paediatric

This version was published on April 1, 2009

Palliative Medicine, Vol. 23, No. 3, 228-237 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0269216308100251


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?