Abstract

Background: When families lack access to early intervention services, telepractice is a feasible alternative. Despite the growing interest in this service delivery model, clinicians continue to express concerns about their ability to develop therapeutic relationships with families. However, to date, there has been only limited research exploring how clinicians and families actually engage in a telepractice environment. Aims: This systematic review aimed to: (1) define engagement in the context of telepractice early intervention for young children and their families; and (2) identify major barriers and facilitators for establishing and maintaining engagement via telepractice. Method: The search strategy combining electronic database searches, reference lists of selected articles, and hand searching identified 7 studies that met the inclusion criteria of peer-reviewed journal articles exploring professionals’, families’, managers’, or administrators’ perspectives of engagement in telepractice early intervention. The selected articles were appraised using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) qualitative checklist and data were analysed using a thematic synthesis approach. Result: The data synthesised were grouped into main themes reflecting the nuances of engagement in telepractice early intervention, and how clinicians and families collaborate to establish engagement in telepractice settings. Conclusion: This review provides (1) a comprehensive conceptualisation of engagement in different telepractice early intervention settings, and (2) a set of recommendations for establishing and sustaining engagement when using telepractice environments in early intervention. These recommendations could be applied to professionals, families, and clients to strengthen telepractice interactions, therefore, improving the care of and outcomes for families.