title: Relation between patient satisfaction, compliance and the clinical benefit of a teletreatment application for chronic pain.
abstract: We investigated the ease of use and usefulness as a measure of patient satisfaction, compliance, clinical benefit and its mutual relationships concerning a teletreatment application for chronic pain. Fifty-two subjects with neck and shoulder pain received and completed a four-week myofeedback-based teletreatment intervention. Prior to the onset of the intervention (at baseline) and immediately after the intervention they were asked to fill in questionnaires to measure discrepancies (gap scores) between expectations and experiences with the ease of use and usefulness of the treatment, as well as pain intensity and pain disability. In addition, the actual use of the system (i.e. the volume of muscle activity data available on the server) was logged. The subjects reported a significantly higher score on ease of use after the intervention compared to baseline, suggesting that the equipment was easier to use than they expected. Compliance was associated with clinical benefit. There was no significant relation between patient satisfaction and compliance. Patient satisfaction is a key indicator of how well the telemedicine treatment met expectations and compliance is important because of its association with clinical outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Roessingh Research and Development, Roessinghsbleekweg 33b, 7522 AH Enschede, The Netherlands. r.huisintveld@rrd.nl
authors.forename: Rianne M H A
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Huis in 't Veld
authors.forename: Stephanie M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kosterink
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Barbe
authors.forename: Agneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lindegård
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marecek
authors.forename: Miriam M R
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Vollenbroek-Hutten
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005060:Europe; D056228:Feedback, Sensory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017216:Telemedicine; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult