Factors Influencing the Desirability, Acceptability, and Adherence of Patients with Diabetes to Telemedicine

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Telemedicine solutions have proven their value and efficacy in augmenting diabetes care. In addition to the availability of tools needed to implement telemedicine solutions for patients with diabetes, the patients’ desirability, acceptance, and adherence represent major burdens in implementing them. The main aim of this research is to evaluate which factors are influencing the desirability, acceptance, and adherence of patients with diabetes to telemedicine interventions in diabetes care. Materials and Methods: QTelemeDiab, a previously validated instrument for assessing patients’ desirability, acceptance, and adherence to telemedicine in diabetes care, was used on 114 enrolled patients with diabetes mellitus, in parallel with demographic, socio-economic, disease history, and psychometric data from all patients. Results: Left-skewed score distributions were observed for the QTelemeDiab total score (median = 166; skewness = −1.738), as well as all its components, thus denoting a high desirability, acceptance, and adherence towards telemedicine use. The presence of severe depression was associated with significant decreases in the QTelemeDiab score (148 vs. 167; p < 0.001), as well as on the desirability sub-score (101 vs. 115; p < 0.001) and adherence sub-score (30 vs. 35; p < 0.001). The presence of severe anxiety was associated with significant decreases in QTelemeDiab score (150 vs. 166), as well as the desirability sub-score (104 vs. 114; p = 0.008) and adherence sub-score (30 vs. 34; p = 0.012). Conclusions: There is a high desirability, acceptance, and adherence to the use of telemedicine interventions in patients with diabetes, both in special and in normal epidemiological settings. The presence of severe anxiety decreases the patient’s desirability, acceptance, and adherence, while the presence of severe depression decreases the patient’s desirability and adherence to the use of telemedicine interventions in diabetes care.

Barriers and Facilitators of Telemedicine Among Physicians at a University Hospital

“…This suggests that telemedicine can play a significant role in reducing the number of unnecessary hospital visits and effectively ensuring that patients in need of urgent care receive it faster, which we trust would ultimately solve the significant issue of providing emergency care that affects the whole world. Interestingly, physicians in our study expressed a low level of agreement regarding telemedicine's role in increasing patients' understanding and adherence to treatment plans, whereas another study [19] that focused on the role of telemedicine in diabetic patients' care concluded that the application of telemedicine services remarkably increased patients' adherence to the management plan, illustrating the huge impact telemedicine has on patients' compliance. Our findings revealed that 80% of the physicians accepted that telemedicine improved access to care and that it played an integral role in response to the rapid transition to telemedicine during the COVID-19 crisis.…”