A COMPARISON OF THE STANDARD AND THE COMPUTERIZED VERSIONS OF THE WELL-BEING QUESTIONNAIRE (WBQ) AND THE DIABETES TREATMENT SATISFACTION QUESTIONNAIRE (DTSQ)

In the present study, the equivalence of paper and pencil assessment v ersus computer assessment of two self-administered questionnaires was investigated by means of a randomized cross-over design. Therefore, 10 5 out-patients with diabetes were invited to participate; 76 patients completed both the computer and the paper and pencil version of the We ll-being Questionnaire (WBQ) and the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Q uestionnaire (DTSQ) in a randomized order, with a mean interval of 7 d ays. The scales showed high test-retest correlations and the means, di spersions, kurtosis and skewness were found to be approximately the sa me in both versions. In both modes of assessment, the depression and t he energy scale proved to be sensitive for carry-over effects, resulti ng in better well-being scores at the second measurement. Almost all s ubjects reported that using the personal computer in the realization o f a questionnaire was easy. It is concluded that the paper and pencil and the computerized versions of the WBQ and DTSQ can be considered eq uivalent. Therefore, the norms and cut-off scores obtained from paper and pencil assessments can be used in computerized versions of the WBQ and DTSQ and vice versa.