Inter-rater and Test-retest Reliability of the Danish Version of the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire when used with elderly people with and without Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Background: Everyday technologies are today naturally integrated in people’s daily life. For elderly people and people living with a chronic disease like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the ability to use... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Everyday technologies are today naturally integrated in people’s daily life. For elderly people and people living with a chronic disease like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the ability to use e-health technologies to monitor and survey their disease becomes increasingly important. Yet, only few clinical assessments to address perceived difficulties in using everyday technologies, including e-health technologies, that provides evidence of reliability and precision in measures. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the Danish version of the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire (ETUQ) in a sample of elderly persons with (n=23) or without COPD (n=24).
Method: ETUQ was initially translated following dual panel approach, and then administered in a sample of 47 persons. Svensson’s method for paired ordinal data was utilized for calculation and analysis of reliability using different statistical measures of agreement.
Results: Overall, inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the Danish version of ETUQ demonstrated excellent percentage agreement (PA) (>75%). Yet, for test-retest reliability of nine items, the PA varied from fair (53%) to good (73%) agreement, and demonstrated systematic disagreement and individual variability.
Conclusion: This study support reliable use of the Danish version of ETUQ in samples of elderly people with or without COPD. The nine items with systematic disagreement and individual variability needs further considerations in future administration of ETUQ.
Application to Practice: The Danish version of ETUQ is an important contribution to clinical occupational therapy and research in Denmark with evidence of reliability and precision.