ELECTRONIC QUALITY-OF-LIFE QUESTIONNAIRES - A COMPARISON OF PEN-BASEDELECTRONIC QUESTIONNAIRES WITH CONVENTIONAL PAPER IN A GASTROINTESTINAL STUDY

The use of pen-based electronic questionnaires and conventional paper questionnaires was compared in a randomized crossover study. Forty-six patients, aged 17-81 years, suffering from gastrointestinal disorders , initially filled in a paper quality of life questionnaire for famili arization purposes, then on two subsequent visits completed electronic and paper questionnaires in randomized order, At the last visit they completed a preference survey. The results showed a high degree of acc eptability of the electronic questionnaire, with 57% of patient prefer ring electronic and 13% preferring paper, while the remaining 30% expr essed no preference, Neither age, gender nor familiarity with technolo gy showed any marked association with patients' preferences. All patie nts found both paper and electronic questionnaires easy to use. Data w ere more complete on the electronic questionnaire (100%) than on the p aper (99.1%). Data handling procedures were greatly simplified. These results show that major benefits in completeness of data, speed of dat a flow, and data handling workload can be obtained from the use of pen -based electronic questionnaires.