title: The effect of education on patients' willingness to participate in a telemedicine study.
abstract: We assessed the effect of previous education on patients' willingness to participate in a clinical study of telemedicine for hypertensive patients. The design was a cross-sectional study of adult patients arriving for appointments in a hypertension clinic. Of the 259 patients approached, 86% completed a baseline survey and were subsequently asked if they would be willing to participate in a one-year telemedicine study. One hundred and fifty patients (58%) agreed to participate. A stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the effect of level of education on willingness to participate, while controlling for potentially confounding variables. In the final model, only education remained significant. The odds ratio for non-participation of patients with high-school education or less was 3.6 (95% confidence interval 1.9-7.0). Educational status should be carefully considered when designing, implementing and interpreting telemedicine studies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Research, Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation, 1516 Jefferson Highway, New Orleans, LA 70121, USA. mawood@ochsner.org
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Krousel-Wood
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Re
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdoh
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chambers
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Altobello
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ginther
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bradford
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kleit
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D016015:Logistic Models; D008145:Louisiana; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010358:Patient Participation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017216:Telemedicine