A Telenutrition Usefulness Questionnaire: Development and Preliminary Validation

Annie Ziegler*, Melissa Ventura Marra
Department of Animal Nutrition Sciences

Presentation Category: Health Sciences (Poster Presentation)

Student’s Major: Human Nutrition and Foods

Telenutrition, the delivery of nutrition care by a dietitian using videoconferencing software, has potential to increase access to nutrition care in rural areas and during Covid-19 related social-distancing. To be a sustainable mode of nutrition care delivery, patients need to perceive the service as useful. No validated usefulness questionnaire for telenutrition services exists in the literature. Thus, the study's purpose is to develop and validate a questionnaire to measure the patient-perceived usefulness of tele-delivered nutrition services. A literature search was conducted to identify key constructs and questions. Content validity was determined by assessment from a panel of experts. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. A 22-item telenutrition questionnaire was developed that addressed two main areas (technology and nutrition care) and four constructs (technical aspects, patient-professional interaction, patient’s feelings about consultation, and satisfaction). An Cronbach’s alpha score for the two areas of technology and patient care were 0.8379 and 0.8586 respectively, indicating high reliability. A valid questionnaire to measure the usefulness of telenutrition has been developed, providing a tool for evaluating and improving virtual nutrition visits.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: a West Virginia SURE program