TY  - JOUR
AU  - Epis, Oscar Massimiliano
AU  - Casu, Cinzia
AU  - Belloli, Laura
AU  - Schito, Emanuela
AU  - Filippini, Davide
AU  - Muscarà, Marina
AU  - Gentile, Maria Giovanna
AU  - Perez Cagnone, Paula Carina
AU  - Venerelli, Chiara
AU  - Sonnati, Massimo
AU  - Schiavetti, Irene
AU  - Bruschi, Eleonora
PY  - 2016
DA  - 2016/11/16
TI  - Pixel or Paper? Validation of a Mobile Technology for Collecting Patient-Reported Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis
JO  - JMIR Res Protoc
SP  - e219
VL  - 5
IS  - 4
KW  - validation
KW  - rheumatoid arthritis
KW  - PROs
KW  - monitoring
KW  - electronic device
KW  - tablet
KW  - questionnaire
KW  - paper
AB  - Background: In the management of chronic disease, new models for telemonitoring of patients combined with the choice of electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePRO) are being encouraged, with a clear improvement of both patients’ and parents’ quality of life. An Italian study demonstrated that ePRO were welcome in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with excellent matching data. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the level of agreement between electronic and paper-and-pencil questionnaire responses. Methods: This is an observational prospective study. Patients were randomly assigned to first complete the questionnaire by paper and pencil and then by tablet or in the opposite order. The questionnaire consisted of 3 independent self-assessment visual rating scales (Visual Analog Scale, Global Health score, Patient Global Assessment of Disease Activity) commonly used in different adult patients, including those with rheumatic diseases. Results: A total of 185 consecutive RA patients were admitted to hospital and were enrolled and completed the questionnaire both on paper and on electronic versions. For all the evaluated items, the intrarater degree of agreement between 2 approaches was found to be excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient>0.75, P<.001). Conclusions: An electronic questionnaire is uploaded in a dedicated Web-based tool that could implement a telemonitoring system aimed at improving the follow-up of RA patients. High intrarater reliability between paper and electronic methods of data collection encourage the use of a new digital app with consequent benefit for the overall health care system. 
SN  - 1929-0748
UR  - http://www.researchprotocols.org/2016/4/e219/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/resprot.5631
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27852561
DO  - 10.2196/resprot.5631
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/resprot.5631
ER  -