Are patients willing to take a more active role? Questionnaires to measure patients' willingness to be empowered

Martin Gellerstedt; Jeanette Melin; Victoria Johansson; Eva Angenete

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2021.07.006

Are patients willing to take a more active role? Questionnaires to measure patients' willingness to be empowered

Patient Educ Couns. 2022 Mar;105(3):741-749. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2021.07.006. Epub 2021 Jul 7.

Authors

Martin Gellerstedt¹, Jeanette Melin², Victoria Johansson³, Eva Angenete⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Health Sciences, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden; University West, School of Business, Economics and IT, SE-461 86 Trollhättan, Sweden. Electronic address: martin.gellerstedt@his.se.
² The Department of Measurement Sciences and Technology, Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), Gothenburg, Sweden; Gothenburg Centre for Person-Centred Care (GPCC), University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
³ University West, School of Business, Economics and IT, SE-461 86 Trollhättan, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Surgery, SSORG - Scandinavian Surgical Outcomes Research Group, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; Region Västra Götaland, Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Östra, Department of Surgery, Gothenburg, Sweden.

PMID: 34312033
DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2021.07.006

Abstract

Objective: One crucial prerequisite for increased patient empowerment is the willingness among patients to take a more active role. The aim of this study was to develop questionnaires for measuring a patient's willingness to be empowered in general and by using e-health.

Methods: The study was based on a random sample from an online panel. The 800 responders were Swedish citizens and reflected the internet-using population in Sweden regarding age, gender, income, and education. The measurement properties were evaluated according to the Rasch Measurement Theory.

Results: The analyses showed two questionnaires with adequate fit to the basic measurement model and with high reliability (PSI 0.84 and 0.89, respectively).

Conclusion: We conclude that this study generated two questionnaires with an intuitive order of items illustrating an understandable progression of willingness to be empowered in general as well as for e-health.

Practice implications: The suggested questionnaires are valuable tools supporting the effort to tailor empowerment strategies to meet the patient's willingness. Questionnaires will also be valuable for evaluating strategies for supporting willingness, studying factors related to willingness and potential inequalities due to e.g. varying digital literacy, and for enabling identification of patient stereotypes using cluster analyses.

Keywords: Patient empowerment; Questionnaire; Rasch analysis; Willingness.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Patient Participation*
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires
Sweden