Search

Introduction: Telemedicine is the exchange of medical information from one site to another via electronic communications with the goal of improving a patient's clinical health status. Prior studies have identified the absence of a standardized assessment tool for evaluating telemedicine encounters. This study aims to collect and to analyze questionnaires used for the assessment of audiovisual telemedicine encounters from a patient perspective and aims to identify reasons driving the use of self-developed questionnaires. Methods: We conducted a systematic search in PubMed for studies that used survey questionnaires to assess synchronous audiovisual telemedicine encounters from 2016 to 2021. We categorized questionnaires used into validated and non-validated types, and for each of them, collected questions, response format, author, year, specialty, and country of publication. Results and Discussion: We analyzed a total of 71 articles. We found that only 16 studies used three validated questionnaires. The remaining 55 studies used non-validated questionnaires. Non-validated questionnaires had a high variability in length and used Likert scales, binary responses, multiple choice, and open-ended answers. We found only eight studies in which the authors gave a reason for resorting to designing their own questionnaires. This review reveals insufficient standardized survey questionnaires to be used for the assessment of audiovisual telemedicine encounters. Future research initiatives should focus on developing a standardized and validated instrument well accepted by researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Cancer Health Awareness through screeNinG and Education (CHANGE) initiative delivers cancer awareness education with an emphasis on modifiable risk factors and navigation to screening for prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers to residents of public housing communities who experience significant negative social determinants of health. Methods: Residents of five communities participated. Community advisory board members were recruited and provided feedback to local environmental change projects, recruitment, and community engagement at each site. At each site, four education sessions were provided by trained facilitators on cancer risk factors and etiology, racial disparities, eligibility for cancer screening, and participation in clinical trials. Attendance, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about cancer, and height, weight, and waist circumference were measured at baseline and 1‐week post‐CHANGE sessions. Results: 90 residents (60% 65 and older years old, 33% male, 60% High School education, 93% AA) participated in the program. 95% completed post‐intervention evaluation. Participants were eligible for breast (n = 12), prostate (n = 15), and colorectal screening (n = 25) based on American Cancer Society guidelines, and 22 for tobacco cessation; 21 participants accepted navigation assistance for these services. At post‐test, participants significantly increased in knowledge and behaviors around obesity/overweight risk for cancer, nutrition, and physical activity. Colorectal, prostate, and breast cancer knowledge scores also increased, but were not significant. Conclusions: CHANGE participants demonstrated improved health knowledge and intentions to improve their modifiable health behaviors. Participants reported being motivated and confident in seeking preventive care and satisfaction with community engagement efforts. Replication of this project in similar communities may improve knowledge and health equity among underserved populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In this study, we examined emotional profiles, the pattern of intensities of evoked emotions, and the associations between emotions and openness in the use flavored e-cigarettes among adults who do not currently use e-cigarettes – younger/never smoked and older/currently smoked. Methods: We conducted an Internet experiment in women (N = 141) who do not currently use e-cigarettes. Experiment stimuli appeared as flavor names (classic tobacco, cool mint, fresh strawberry, top-shelf bourbon) and were randomly presented to participants who rated their evoked emotions using the EsSense™ Profile. Overall liking and openness to use were assessed per flavor. Seemingly unrelated regression models were constructed to determine factors associated with openness. Results: All flavors evoked greater intensities of negative emotions (disgusted, worried, and guilty) in younger/never smoked adults. The majority of the ratings on positive emotions (enthusiastic, interested, and satisfied) were positively and significantly correlated with flavor liking, whereas disgusted, was negatively correlated with flavor liking. Perceived harm was high whereas overall liking and openness were low. Flavor liking was significantly greater for “classic tobacco” in older/currently smoked (p < .001). Conclusions: Low intensities of positive emotions to flavor names suggest disinterest in e-cigarettes as a class product irrespective of flavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the use of audiovisual telemedicine has grown in recent years especially during recent COVID-19-related lockdowns, evidence shows there is still a lack of tools that can be used for the assessment of telemedicine encounters. The few validated questionnaires that are available for assessing telemedicine encounters are not often used. Non-validated questionnaires dominate research, leading to results that cannot be compared or extrapolated to other research or medical sites. Development of standard measures for the assessment of telemedicine encounters has been advocated by stakeholders. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive set of measures by developing a conceptual approach and a preliminary Telemedicine Assessment Toolkit (TAT) for the assessment of audiovisual telemedicine encounters. A two-step conceptual approach was used to identify potential domains and sub-domains by qualitative analysis of a pool of questions from studies published from 2016 to 2021. Questions were adopted from validated questionnaires or generated to represent the underlying concept of each sub-domain, resulting in a core block of comprehensive questions. A toolkit is proposed with question-measures that cover the sub-domains relevant to the assessment of telemedicine encounters. This study recommended 11 domains to be used for the assessment of telemedicine encounters: “usability,” “patient satisfaction,” “patient–provider interaction,” “patient perspectives,” “telemedicine readiness,” “qualitative feedback,” “comparison to standard (in-person) care,” “privacy,” “technology,” “patient feeling,” and “patient costs.” Of the 11 domains, 26 underlying sub-domains were created. From the subdomains, a 30-question core block was proposed. The core-block together with a precursor block aimed to retrieve demographic/patient characteristics and, together with a customizable clinical outcomes block, complete the comprehensive toolkit. The toolkit, upon testing and validation, would enable researchers and system owners to assess patient-oriented aspects of audiovisual telemedicine encounters more accurately and accelerate the adoption of common audiovisual telemedicine assessment measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]