Development of a Valid and Reliable Questionnaire Assessing the Strengths and Limitations of Telemedicine Services in India

Telemedicine has progressed in the last decade as a stimulating solution in providing distance support to healthcare workers at ground level. In a developing country like India, telemedicine sector is still at a nascent stage, and medical practitioners are facing many challenges while using telemedicine technologies. The aim of this study is to identify the strengths and limitations of telemedicine sector by developing a valid and reliable self-administered questionnaire in reference to India. Data were collected via widespread, detailed interviews of different stakeholders of telemedicine, including people managing telemedicine facilities, who had a profound understanding of different aspects of telemedicine, and the doctors practicing telemedicine in various public and private hospitals and through rigorous review of literature to have thorough facts and knowledge about various attributes of questionnaire. To confirm the validity of the questionnaire, the item pool was assessed by three specialists providing tele-consultation services and two managers who manage telemedicine centres in a public and a corporate hospital. A pilot study was conducted at three telemedicine centres of private and public hospitals in India, and their responses were calculated. After ensuring the validity, the questionnaire was evaluated to examine its reliability Cronbach’s alpha by using SPSS software version 21. The final questionnaire consisting of 50 items was ultimately developed. This questionnaire contains appropriate content and face validities, very good reliability and hence can be a beneficial tool for assessing telemedicine services in India.