Patient satisfaction and anxiety status
To evaluate the patients’ acceptance and satisfaction with the RM
program, two nurses administered (within a month since the first
transmission) the Home Monitoring Acceptance and Satisfaction
Questionnaire (HoMASQ) to all new patients who received the RM system
(12). HoMASQ includes 12 items aimed at investigating five different
aspects: 1- relationship with their healthcare provider, 2- ease of use
of home monitoring technology, 3- related psychological aspects, 4-
implications on general health and 5- overall satisfaction. Each item
was rated on a five-point scale: from 0, strongly unfavourable, to 4,
strongly favourable; an answer was considered favourable with a score ≥
2.
Furthermore, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale was
administered by the same nurses to all new patients in RM. GAD-7 was
administered to assess the level of safety or anxiety associated with RM
and the psychological discomfort related to the home-delivery and
office-delivery services. The questionnaire consists of seven items: 1-
feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge; 2- being able to stop or control
worrying; 3- worrying too much about different things; 4- trouble
relaxing; 5- being restless; 6- becoming easily annoyed or irritable; 7-
feeling afraid as if something awful might happen (13). Response options
are “not at all” (scores as 0), “several days” (scores as 1), “more
than half the days” (scores as 2) and “nearly every day” (scores as
3). The total score ranges from 0 to 21, with scores of 5, 10, and 15
representing the cut-off points for mild, moderate, and severe anxiety,
respectively.