Table 4.

Facilitators and barriers of videoconferencing interventions for people with chronic conditions (N=25).

Facilitators or barriers		Interventions, n (%)	Description	Examples
Facilitators
	Feasible and acceptable to participants [37,38,45,46,48,51,53,58,60,63,65]	11 (44)	Low attrition rate and high completion rate Positive client feedback—easy to follow, practical, and convenient; easy and quick to reschedule if needed	“The delivery of the TBIconneCT intervention via videoconferencing was feasible and well received by the participants.” [58]
	Reduced temporal and physical barriers [37,38,40,44,46,51,60,61,63-65]	11 (44)	Saved time, cost, and energy required traveling to the clinic Avoidance of barriers in transportation, parking, and accessibility Particularly beneficial for individuals with greater difficulties traveling or with poorer health conditions	“The ease of completing sessions at home may have reduced treatment access barriers often reported by patients with cancer, such as difficulty with travel and parking.” [63]
	Therapeutic benefits from receiving the intervention at home or therapeutic alliance building [36,37,40,45,51,58,60,61,65,68]	10 (40)	Ability to observe and provide environmental recommendations at clients’ homes Direct application and practice of skills in naturalistic settings; no need to generalize skills learned in a clinical or laboratory setting Meaningful collaborative partnerships	“The first benefit was patient engagement and communication. Video was novel and fun for some patients, more interactive than telephone, and nurses felt they got to know video patients better...Study nurses reported the video was useful for some indications, such as viewing a drawer of medications or observing a patient doing shoulder exercises.” [45]
	Improved reach to underserviced populations or underserviced areas [38,51,60,62,63,65]	6 (24)	Improvement of health care service delivery in remote areas for clients with poor health	“Participants connected from diverse locations, including rural and urban areas, spread over large geographic distances. This widespread reach would not have been possible had the intervention taken place in-person.” [62]
	COVID-19 [44]	1 (4)	Allowing COVID-19 safety precautions	“In the current COVID-19 pandemic, where social distancing is an essential policy in many countries to decrease the spread of the disease, online interventions have become increasingly common.” [44]
Barriers
	Reliance on patients’ comfort and technology literacy [38,40,41,45,46,58,63,68].	8 (32)	Limited confidence, comfort, and skills using technology Reduced trustworthiness of quality health care services	“In our sample of participants with CI, not unexpectedly, we found that adopting more than one new technology at a time was especially difficult for participants (e.g., learning how to use both the iPad and the video visit software).” [45]
	Limited access to compatible technology and the internet [36,40,41,46,55,62,68]	7 (28)	Home device or software is not compatible with the requirements of videoconferencing Insufficient internet bandwidth and upload or download speed High cost of better devices and signal quality	“Participants needed to be familiar with using technology and have access to a computer, limiting the accessibility of this design to all members of the SCI community.” [40]
	Technical issues [36,45,50,55,58,62,68]	7 (28)	Delayed or frozen audio or video signal Technological glitches or system malfunction	“Several expressed frustration with the intermittent loss of connectivity and technical problems related to the videoconferencing during sessions.” [68]
	Protection of privacy and confidentiality [38,55,58,62,67]	5 (20)	Unclear privacy protection procedures Inability to confirm the legitimacy of the health care provider Inconsistent client health and personal information acts across different jurisdictions	“Ensuring participants are communicating with legitimate personnel, ensuring that the delivery format does not invade privacy.” [55]
	Limited clinical observations and communication [45,55,62]	3 (12)	Limited environmental information beyond the scope of the camera	“The therapist could not see the complete context in which the activity was performed...this made it difficult at times for the therapist to analyze performance breakdowns in order to guide the participants most effectively.” [55]