Are in Person and Telephone Interviews Equivalent Modes of Administrating the CAT, the FACIT-FS and the SGRQ in People With COPD?
Vânia Rocha, Cristina Jácome, Vitória Martins and 1 others
PMID 36188865WHAT IT FOUND
For people with COPD, telephone administration of the CAT, FACIT-FS and SGRQ matched in-person scores.
Clinicians can use these questionnaires remotely to monitor symptoms and quality of life without losing accuracy, though patient preference for face-to-face contact should still be respected.
Key findings
01There were no significant differences between the average scores obtained in-person and by telephone for the CAT, FACIT-FS, and SGRQ.
02The telephone administration showed excellent test-retest reliability and strong correlation with in-person scores for all three questionnaires.
03The study sample consisted of older, mostly male participants with low education levels, which limits how far these results apply to all people with COPD.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample size (n=55) met the minimum requirement but was smaller than the desirable sample size (>100) for robust psychometric testing. The participants were mostly older men with low education levels, limiting generalisability to younger, female, or more highly educated populations. The time of day the questionnaires were administered was not standardized, which may affect symptom reporting given daily variability in COPD. The interviewer was present for both modes, which might bias responses for questionnaires originally designed for self-administration, though this bias was consistent across both modes.
Declared interests
The authors declare no commercial or financial conflicts of interest. The work was funded by Portuguese government and European regional development funds.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume telephone administration is equivalent for all patient groups. The study only included stable COPD patients who were mostly older men with low education; results may not apply to patients with cognitive impairment, acute exacerbations, or different demographic profiles.