1. Utility of 3D modelling of the patient's living environment as perceived by occupational therapists.
- Author
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Guay, Manon, Auger, Claudine, Séguin‐Tremblay, Noémie, Michaud, François, Labbé, Mathieu, Chevalier, Natalie, Plante, Michelle, and Polgar, Janice
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MOBILE apps , *COST control , *STRUCTURAL models , *SMARTPHONES , *OCCUPATIONAL adaptation , *OCCUPATIONAL therapists , *INTERVIEWING , *UNIVERSAL design , *HOME environment , *TELEREHABILITATION , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *OCCUPATIONAL therapy , *ASSISTIVE technology , *TELEMEDICINE , *MEDICAL consultation , *PARADIGMS (Social sciences) , *SOUND recordings , *INFORMATION needs , *PROFESSIONS , *ATTITUDES of medical personnel , *RESEARCH , *AGING , *DATA analysis software , *PATIENT satisfaction , *BUILT environment - Abstract
Introduction: Visiting a patient's living environment is important for occupational therapists, albeit costly and time consuming. MapIt is a mobile app producing a 3D representation of a home with the possibility of taking measurements. The purpose of this study was to explore the utility of a 3D representation of a patient's home for the clinical practice of occupational therapists. Methods: Case study in which the unit of analysis was the utility of MapIt as defined by ISO 9241‐11:2018 and as perceived by occupational therapists in four different occupational therapy clinical settings (Canada). Onsite observations with 10 occupational therapists (and their patients) were triangulated with data from interviews, diaries, and logbooks. Inductive thematic condensation led to emerging conclusions for each clinical setting, fuelling the next case data collection and analysis. Inter‐case analysis was corroborated by additional occupational therapists, through crowdsourcing and expert review. Results: Occupational therapists' clinical reasoning was supported by the MapIt app, enhancing and streamlining their work and inducing adjustments to treatment plans. Occupational therapists saw and measured the patient's environment remotely, to better match person‐environment‐occupation and promote occupational engagement. MapIt's 3D representations were judged useful to communicate between occupational therapists and stakeholders, to educate, allow continuity, optimise resources, minimise the patient's time on a waitlist for homecare, and save time for everyone. Discussion: MapIt allowed occupational therapists who performed home visits to bring a little of the patients' home to their office, whereas occupational therapists without access to the home could see it and take measurements. MapIt's utility was confirmed for practice in clinical settings and for better continuity of care between settings. Conclusion: MapIt makes it possible for occupational therapists to 'walk around' the patient's home remotely, but the possibility of measuring environmental elements is a 3D model's true added value over currently used photos or short videos. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: This study explored how a mobile app called MapIt could help occupational therapists in their work. Visiting a patient's home takes a lot of time. This app creates a 3D model of a room, making it easier for occupational therapists to see and measure the home environment remotely. The research was conducted with 10 occupational therapists working in four different contexts in Quebec, Canada. Researchers studied how useful MapIt was to the occupational therapists. The latter each used MapIt with their patients, kept track of their experience in a diary and were interviewed throughout the duration of the study. The results showed that MapIt helped occupational therapists in understanding their patients' living environment and planning treatments accordingly. Occupational therapists who could not visit the homes in person found it useful. The 3D models created by MapIt were also judged helpful for communicating with other people involved in the patient's care, like family members or other health‐care professionals. MapIt could make occupational therapy more efficient and help patients get the care they need faster. Overall, the researchers concluded that MapIt is a useful tool for occupational therapists. It allows them to virtually visit patients' homes and take measurements, which is important when evaluating how to adapt a home to a patient's needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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