gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: We demonstrate our experiences on the realization and use of electronic questionnaires using mobile technologies and devices (e-Questionnaires) in clinical hearing rehabilitation. These constitute, in many ways, a useful alternative to printed versions, allowing remote data collection, prompt data availability, etc. Mobile technologies and devices offer new possibilities in the design of e-Questionnaires, especially in terms of graphical/gestural user interaction, versatility/portability and multimedia content, and largely address issues of a non-face-to-face questionnaire completion (e.g. clarification of questions, literacy and comprehension difficulties, IT interaction, etc)

Methods: e-Questionnaires were designed using computer tools, suited for mobile applications (Java and Java FX). Existing printed versions were properly adapted and enhanced by incorporating multimedia content and functionality. Every-day clinical application is assessed both by hearing rehabilitation professionals and patients in terms of usefulness, ease of use, interactivity, content self-containment, versatility, etc.

Results: Users’ experiences are presented as quantitative indices together with witnessed short video demonstrations. e-Questionnaires are judged as efficient especially in terms of interactivity and completion time. Cost and required time for development may be reduced in clinical praxis by creating specially constructed IDEs (after the heritage of e-learning platforms).

Conclusions: e-Questionnaires in conjunction with mobile technologies may offer several advantages for the collection and management of data in the process of hearing rehabilitation, and constitute a beneficial step towards the incorporation of the EHR concept in the clinical praxis.

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