Percepção dos fisioterapeutas acerca do teleatendimento em fisioterapia na saúde da mulher de paciente com incontinência urinária

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Urinary incontinence (UI) is characterized as an involuntary loss of urine, and physiotherapy is the first-line treatment. Although the implementation of telehealth was needed during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, few studies evaluated the perception of Brazilian physiotherapists regarding telehealth for UI. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the perception of Brazilian physiotherapists on telehealth for women with UI and adherence of patients to this type of care. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted between March and November 2021, with population 74 physiotherapists recruits on Instagram and WhatsApp, this study used Google Forms that comprised personal and demographic data and perception of physiotherapists regarding remote care, adherence of patients, logistics of telehealth, and resources used. Most responses were objective or in a Likert format. Only two questions were discursive. Mann-Whitney test and Spearman's correlation were performed with a significance level of p≤0.05. RESULTS: All physiotherapists adapted treatments to the telehealth modality. During social isolation, 63.15% reported treating patients from other Brazilian regions, and 40.78% treated patients from other countries. Regarding the perception of physiotherapists regarding adherence to telehealth, 82.89% of patients adapted to telehealth, and 68.42% had good adherence. Physiotherapists reported that 56.57% of patients adapted to telehealth; however, 76.28% still preferred face-to-face treatment. When performing Spearman's correlation, it can be observed that patients who preferred remote care had greater adherence to this care format. CONCLUSION: Physiotherapists perceived that patients preferred face-to-face care but had good adherence to telehealth during social isolation. Also, many physiotherapists reported difficulty in adapting to telehealth.