Psychometric Properties of Patient-Facing eHealth Evaluation Measures: Systematic Review and Analysis

• Published in: Journal of medical Internet research 2017-10, Vol.19 (10), p.e346-e346
• Main Authors: Wakefield, Bonnie J, Turvey, Carolyn L, Nazi, Kim M, Holman, John E, Hogan, Timothy P, Shimada, Stephanie L, Kennedy, Diana R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cancer; Citation management software; Clinical medicine; Clinical outcomes; Communication; Computerization; Consumers; Coping; Digital literacy; Elimination; Email; End users; English language; Fluency; Health literacy; Health sciences; Health services; Health status; Humans; Information technology; Innovations; Intervention; Librarians; Measurement; Medical technology; Millennium; Multimedia; Needs Assessment; Occupations; Original Paper; Patient satisfaction; Personal health; Polls & surveys; Property; Psychometrics - methods; Quantitative psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Systematic review; Telemedicine; Telemedicine - methods; Usability; Web portals
• ISSN: 1438-8871; 1439-4456; 1438-8871
• DOI: 10.2196/jmir.7638

Significant resources are being invested into eHealth technology to improve health care. Few resources have focused on evaluating the impact of use on patient outcomes A standardized set of metrics used across health systems and research will enable aggregation of data to inform improved implementation, clinical practice, and ultimately health outcomes associated with use of patient-facing eHealth technologies. The objective of this project was to conduct a systematic review to (1) identify existing instruments for eHealth research and implementation evaluation from the patient's point of view, (2) characterize measurement components, and (3) assess psychometrics. Concepts from existing models and published studies of technology use and adoption were identified and used to inform a search strategy. Search terms were broadly categorized as platforms (eg, email), measurement (eg, survey), function/information use (eg, self-management), health care occupations (eg, nurse), and eHealth/telemedicine (eg, mHealth). A computerized database search was conducted through June 2014. Included articles (1) described development of an instrument, or (2) used an instrument that could be traced back to its original publication, or (3) modified an instrument, and (4) with full text in English language, and (5) focused on the patient perspective on technology, including patient preferences and satisfaction, engagement with technology, usability, competency and fluency with technology, computer literacy, and trust in and acceptance of technology. The review was limited to instruments that reported at least one psychometric property. Excluded were investigator-developed measures, disease-specific assessments delivered via technology or telephone (eg, a cancer-coping measure delivered via computer survey), and measures focused primarily on clinician use (eg, the electronic health record). The search strategy yielded 47,320 articles. Following elimination of duplicates and non-English language publications (n=14,550) and books (n=27), another 31,647 articles were excluded through review of titles. Following a review of the abstracts of the remaining 1096 articles, 68 were retained for full-text review. Of these, 16 described an instrument and six used an instrument; one instrument was drawn from the GEM database, resulting in 23 articles for inclusion. None included a complete psychometric evaluation. The most frequently assessed property was internal consistency (21/23, 91%).