Digital and Telehealth-Enabled Occupational Therapy for Sustainable Rehabilitation: A Structured Evidence Review

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-620-8_30How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Occupational Therapy; Telehealth; Digital Health; Sustainable Rehabilitation; Carbon Footprint; Clinical Reasoning; Indonesia

Abstract

Rehabilitation services are expected to serve more people, yet expansion cannot be considered separately from the environmental costs associated with travel, facilities, digital devices, and data infrastructure. This structured evidence review examined whether digital and telehealth-enabled occupational therapy (OT) can improve access while retaining clinical judgement and avoiding overstated sustainability claims. The review used bibliographically traceable evidence from PubMed/MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, occupational therapy and digital-health journals, WFOT publications, and Indonesian policy reports. Evidence was organised into five delivery modalities: synchronous video consultation, mobile health applications, virtual reality, artificial intelligence or wearable-supported monitoring, and hybrid care. The most consistent OT-specific support concerns video-based coaching, consultation, caregiver training, and follow-up. Virtual reality appears useful as an adjunct in selected stroke rehabilitation programmes, whereas AI and wearable technologies remain ahead of the controlled, OT-specific evidence required for routine practice. Across the literature, recurring implementation concerns include unstable connectivity, unequal digital capability, insufficient therapist preparation, privacy and documentation risks, and uncertain reimbursement. An illustrative Indonesian calculation indicates that replacing one clinic attendance with a remote session may avoid 3.0-33.0 kg of travel-related CO2, depending on journey distance. This estimate deliberately excludes device manufacture, electricity use, data infrastructure, and electronic waste. The findings therefore support selective hybrid delivery rather than the assumption that telehealth is inherently sustainable. Progress in Indonesia will depend on OT-specific competencies, secure systems, viable reimbursement, and local studies that evaluate occupational outcomes, access, equity, cost, and carbon consequences within the same service pathway.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Reza Nur Arsyi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
TI  - Digital and Telehealth-Enabled Occupational Therapy for Sustainable Rehabilitation: A Structured Evidence Review
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Vocational Education, Applied Science and Technology (ICVEAST 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 376
EP  - 386
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-620-8_30
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-620-8_30
ID  - Arsyi2026
ER  -