• Narelle S Cox, Joanna Y T Lee, Christine F McDonald, Ajay Mahal, Jennifer A Alison, Richard Wootton, Catherine J Hill, Paolo Zanaboni, Paul O'Halloran, Janet Bondarenko, Heather Macdonald, Kathryn Barker, Hayley Crute, Christie Mellerick, Bruna Wageck, Helen Boursinos, Aroub Lahham, Amanda Nichols, Pawel Czupryn, Monique Corbett, Emma Handley, Angela T Burge, and Anne E Holland.
• Respiratory Research@Alfred, Department of Immunology and Pathology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: narelle.cox@monash.edu.
• Chest. 2023 Jun 1; 163 (6): 141014241410-1424.

BackgroundAutonomy-supportive health environments can assist patients in achieving behavior change and can influence adherence positively. Telerehabilitation may increase access to rehabilitation services, but creating an autonomy-supportive environment may be challenging.Research QuestionTo what degree does telerehabilitation provide an autonomy-supportive environment? What is the patient experience of an 8-week telerehabilitation program?Study Design And MethodsIndividuals undertaking telerehabilitation or center-based pulmonary rehabilitation within a larger randomized controlled equivalence trial completed the Health Care Climate Questionnaire (HCCQ; short form) to assess perceived autonomy support. Telerehabilitation participants were invited 1:1 to undertake semistructured interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded thematically to identify major themes and subthemes.ResultsOne hundred thirty-six participants (n = 69 telerehabilitation) completed the HCCQ and 30 telerehabilitation participants (42%) undertook interviews. HCCQ summary scores indicated that participants strongly agreed that the telerehabilitation environment was autonomy supportive, which was similar to center-based participants (HCCQ summary score, P = .6; individual HCCQ items, P ≥ .3). Telerehabilitation interview data supported quantitative findings identifying five major themes, with subthemes, as follows: (1) making it easier to participate in pulmonary rehabilitation, because telerehabilitation was convenient, saved time and money, and offered flexibility; (2) receiving support in a variety of ways, including opportunities for peer support and receiving an individualized program guided by expert staff; (3) internal and external motivation to exercise as a consequence of being in a supervised group, seeing results for effort, and being inspired by others; (4) achieving success through provision of equipment and processes to prepare and support operation of equipment and technology; and (5) after the rehabilitation program, continuing to exercise, but dealing with feelings of loss.InterpretationTelerehabilitation was perceived as an autonomy-supportive environment, in part by making it easier to undertake pulmonary rehabilitation. Support for behavior change, understanding, and motivation were derived from clinicians and patient-peers. The extent to which autonomy support translates into ongoing self-management and behavior change is not clear.Trial RegistryAustralian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry; No.: ACTRN12616000360415; URL: https://anzctr.org.au/.Copyright © 2023 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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