https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3158-3838
Abstract
Purpose
Advancements in electronic health (eHealth) technology have profoundly impacted patient engagement. This study aimed to develop and validate the Electronic Patient Engagement Behavior (EPEB) scale to measure the conceptual and underlying framework of patient engagement behaviors in an eHealth context.
Patients and Methods
Initial measurement items were generated based on a literature review and qualitative research. Two rounds of surveys, a pilot survey and validation survey, were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale.
Results
The EPEB scale consists of 15 items in four dimensions: disease information search, physician-patient interaction, social interaction between patients, and disease self-monitoring. In the pilot survey, the exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor model, explaining 69.411% of variance. In the validation survey, the Cronbach’s α coefficient of each sub-scale was 0.865, 0.904, 0.904, and 0.900 respectively. The Spearman-Brown split coefficient of the scale was 0.963. The results of the cross-sex measurement equivalence test indicate that all fit indices met the measurement criteria. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated second-order 4-factor model fit the data well. The EPEB has a good reliability and validity.
Conclusion
The EPEB scale provides a reliable tool for measuring patient engagement behaviors in the eHealth context. The utilization of this scale may yield valuable insights into strategies for enhancing patient engagement and optimizing health outcomes.
Ethics Statement
This study was approved by the ethics committee of Tongji hospital of Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (approval no.TJ-IRB20220667). Informed consent was obtained from the study participants and the guidelines outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki were followed.
Acknowledgments
We appreciated the hospitals involved in this study for their support in data collection.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.