Questionnaire development and validation for designing a health telemonitoring system for frail elderly people

Abstract

Background Advancements in information technology have been instrumental in successful recent developments in telemonitoring systems. In this regard, there is a lack of development of valid and reliable tools to determine the requirements and applications of telemonitoring systems used to provide health care for frail elderly people living at home, specifically in a national setting. Method A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2018. The statistical population was 15 geriatric and gerontology professionals and 15 health information management experts. Then, content validity ratio (CVR), Cronbach's alpha, and correlation coefficient were calculated for measuring content validity, internal consistency and external reliability (through the test–retest method) respectively. SPSS software was used to analyze the collected data. Results Based on the identified items, a draft questionnaire was developed. Using the validity analysis in two stages, 37 items were removed, and 60 items were approved as the essential system requirements. The final questionnaire was organized into five sections with content validity index 99% and internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient 0.9). Furthermore, the external reliability results of the questionnaire showed that this instrument has a desirable correlation coefficient ( r = 0.85, p -value<0.05). Conclusion Considering the desirable validity and reliability of the questionnaire developed, it is recommended to telemonitoring system designers to determine the usages and requirements of health monitoring systems for frail elderly people living at home. The verified instrument is suitable for use in countries with the same living conditions and level of development as Iran.

Frailty Syndrome in Older Adults and Related Sociodemographic Factors in the North of Iran: A Population-Based Study

“…The increasing elderly population in Iran is comparable to that in many other countries across the world (12,13). Therefore, the issue of frailty and the identification of frail adults has been notified in recent years in Iranian studies (14,15).…”