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Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 31 > No. 4 (2026)

 

Abstract

Telehealth increases access to allied healthcare in rural areas. People with Parkinson’s disease (PD) need improved access to health care, and from a patient-centered perspective, the coordination of their healthcare should be a priority. Four speech-language pathologists, two physical therapists, two pharmacists, and two study coordinators provided a coordinated allied healthcare intervention for people with PD in rural Wyoming and Nevada. Both the providers of the intervention, as well as the participants who received it, were interviewed about their experiences with the eight-week intervention and asked about aspects that were successful or unsuccessful. Through a naturalistic paradigm using a qualitative description design, we analyzed the opinions and experiences regarding delivering or receiving this eight-week intervention. We analyzed the interview transcripts searching for patterns and categories that emerged when participants described their experiences with either  delivering or receiving this eight-week intervention. We analyzed the patient and provider data separately, identifying themes for both groups.  We then conducted a qualitative comparison of the two sets of themes. Ultimately, this analysis resulted in four shared themes between the intervention participants and the intervention providers: Technology benefits: Convenience without losing connection; Technology challenges: Internet access and stability; Intervention benefits: Improved outcomes and increased PD knowledge; and Future considerations for the intervention: Asynchronous resources and internet/software enhancements. Despite some technology challenges, healthcare providers and participants found that coordinated telehealth is an effective and successful way to deliver speech-language therapy, physical therapy, and medication management to people with PD in rural locations.

Keywords

Parkinson’s disease, qualitative description, qualitative comparison, health promotion, interprofessional, telemedicine/technology

Author Bio(s)

Erin J. Bush, Ph.D., CCC-SLP., is with Florida State University, Communication Science and Disorders. Tallahassee, FL, USA. Please direct correspondence to Erin.Bush@cci.fsu.edu. Corresponding author

Reshmi Singh, Ph.D., MS, BPharm, is with the University of Wyoming, Social and Administrative Pharmacy. 1000 E. University Ave. Dept 3375. Laramie, WY, USA 82071. Josephine Cox, M.S. Craig Hospital. 3425 Clarkson St. Englewood, CO 80113.

Merrill R. Landers, PT, DPT, Ph.D., is with the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Department of Physical Therapy, School of Integrated Health Sciences. Las Vegas, NV, USA

Annalisa V. Piccorelli, Ph.D., is a Biostatistician.

Acknowledgements

This manuscript is dedicated to our co-author, friend, and colleague, Dr. Mary Jo Cooley Hidecker, who passed away in March, 2025 before the last revision of this manuscript. We would also like to thank the participants for sharing their time with us as well as their thoughts and feelings, as well as the following research assistants that helped with this project: Chelsea Kunitz, Autumn Ostlund, Kirsten Kropkowski, Haley Lambrecht, Wendy Dietz, Jarrin Shelley, Haley Hight, & Catherine O’Meara.

Publication Date

4-27-2026

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

ORCID ID

0000-0003-1710-8619

ResearcherID

I-9606-2016

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