Evaluating telehealth self-efficacy and acceptance in multi-disciplinary health professions students: a large-scale pre-post evaluation

Telehealth has become a feature of contemporary models of healthcare. However, competencies in digital health necessary to navigate telehealth have been inconsistent in entry-to-practice health education curricula. We developed and evaluated a blended telehealth course to instil foundational self-efficacy and acceptance among health professions students. We conducted a pre-post test evaluation of a seven-module telehealth course (combination of self-paced online modules, and live telehealth simulation workshop) embedded into the university’s learning management system (LMS). We assessed technology self-efficacy (a confidence score from 22-items adapted from the Technology Proficiency Self-Assessment Questionnaire for 21st Century Learning), telehealth acceptance (using subscales of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model), plus intent towards future use of telehealth. Questionnaires were completed pre- and post-course. Two hundred sixty-seven students completed the pre-assessment. 73.5% were female, 94.0% aged ≤ 29 years old. Representation across cohorts was: Physiotherapy 61.4%, Audiology 19.1%, Speech Pathology 16.1%, Nursing 3.4%. 111 completed post-assessment (41.2% retention). Mean technology confidence increased from 14.9 (SD 4.4) to 16.3 (SD 4.0); p < 0.001. UTAUT2 total increased from 14.1 (SD 7.0) to 18.5 (SD 7.2); p = 0.007. Across all nine UTAUT2 dimensions, post-course scores improved at least at p < 0.05. Intentions to conduct live synchronous consultations ‘frequently/always’ rose from 36.4% to 54.1% ( p < 0.01); intentions to monitor clients asynchronously rose from 63.2% to 76.2% ( p < 0.01). Our brief, blended telehealth curriculum produced modest but meaningful improvements in multidisciplinary students’ technology self-efficacy and consistent improvements in telehealth acceptance as well as future intended use. Our findings suggest that a structured, blended telehealth curriculum can improve technology self-efficacy and acceptance, providing a scalable model for digital health integration in entry-to-practice education.