A scoping review of telehealth in school‐based related health services: Characteristics of telehealth use

Abstract The purpose of the study was to describe the use of telehealth by school‐related service providers. We searched five academic databases, followed by a manual search of the reference lists of included articles. Our inclusion criteria required that articles be peer‐reviewed, in English, involve the use of telehealth by a health professional providing related services and integrate services into the kindergarten to grade 12 school setting. We published an a priori protocol on Open Science Framework. Two reviewers completed article selection, followed by one reviewer and one verifier completing data extraction. We extracted a description of the articles as well as what, where, when, why, how and for whom telehealth services were provided. We screened 6585 unique sources and included 70 articles. Articles were primarily empirical (77%), from the United States (67%), and published after 2017 (73%). Telehealth related services in schools were provided to students with a range of health conditions and disabilities, most often by speech‐language pathologists (40%) and psychologists (40%). These services included assessment, intervention and consultation, and were provided primarily through videoconferencing. Telehealth services were utilized to address staffing shortages, serve rural communities and meet COVID‐19 restrictions. Given the heterogeneous student population and geographically limited literature, we recommend additional research to determine in what specific situations telehealth can and should be implemented. Context and implications Rationale for this study: Given recent pandemic‐related school closures, a scoping review was warranted to explore telehealth‐related service provision within schools. Why the new findings matter: This scoping review included 70 studies, giving insights into what, where, when, how and why telehealth is being used in school‐based related services. Implications for school‐related service providers: The findings indicate that telehealth for related service provision is frequently provided in schools using videoconferencing via readily available low‐ to mid‐tech equipment. Providers need to consider their professional practice guidelines and relevant legislation when implementing telehealth services within the school setting because these vary by geographic area and discipline, and most of the reviewed research stemmed from the United States and two health professions. Given the variation in student population of the included studies, related service providers need to make clinical decisions for telehealth use for each student and based on the service (assessment, treatment, meeting) being provided.