Telerehabilitation applications could solve the barriers of meaningful rehabilitee pathways in early stage of Multiple Sclerosis – A case study

Abstract

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease affecting particularly the working age population. The prevalence of MS in Finland is one of the highest in the world. Finnish social, health care and rehabilitation services providers need to solve many complex challenges, for example, how to increase the cost-effectiveness of the services, simultaneously meeting the essential needs of rehabilitees. Physiotherapy is one of the most common rehabilitation modalities for rehabilitees with MS. Telerehabilitation as a novel mode of physiotherapy has been recognized in Finland, but its applicability for successful physiotherapy remains unclear. This study is part of an interdisciplinary project conducted at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. The goal of the project has been to develop a tentative prototype application of telerehabilitation for early stage MS rehabilitees. Information search was conducted to proof of concept of the telerehabilitation applications. Professional’s consultations were conducted to understand the applicability and usability of our application. In addition, the application development principles for our development purposes were discussed. In this study we report the idea of the developed telerehabilitation application as a product of a multi-professional development process. Findings of this study highlights the importance of critical and open reflection at every stage of any application development work to support interdisciplinary product development, cocreation process, as well as research, development and innovation (RDI) activities at various organizations.