Telehealth and chronic disabilities: New frontier for research and development

The primary purpose of this Special Section is to address key issues and current developments in telehealth outcome research for individuals with chronic disabling conditions. The Special Section begins with a critical review of contemporary telehealth and disability outcome research (H. J. Liss, R. L. Glueckauf, & E. P. Ecklund-Johnson, 2002), followed by two articles that present the findings of 2 ongoing randomized controlled telehealth trials for adults with Type 2 diabetes and rural teenagers with uncontrolled seizure disorders (H. G. McKay, R. E. Glasgow, E. G. Feil, S. M. Boles, & M. M. Barrera, 2002; R. L. Glueckauf et al., 2002). Future directions for outcome research on telehealth and chronic disability are discussed across all 3 articles, particularly the need for large N studies, the use of conceptuaIly meaningful control groups and more rigorous cost utility analyses, and studies that evaluate the "best matches" among different types of telehealth interventions, specific health me concerns, and consumer populations.