Feasibility and acceptability of electronic EQ-5D-5L for routine measurement of HRQOL in patients with chronic musculoskeletal problems in Hong Kong primary care

Table 5 Themes and subthemes on feasibility and acceptability of the e-EQ-5D-5L/VAS synthesized from patient interviews and RA focus group

Themes	Subthemes	Source of information
Themes	Subthemes	Patients	Research assistants
Ease of use in terms of methods of administration
Difficulty in using an e-platform	Technology-related problems	V	V
Difficulty of self-administration	Vision-related problems	V	V
	Requiring assistance to understand the survey question	V	V
	Literacy problems	V
	Increasing age		V
Ease of use in terms of questions
Difficulties in understanding	Unclear definition of the terms	V	V
Difficulties in understanding	Improved understanding after repeated use	V	V
Difficulties in answering	Unable to describe own health in levels	V	V
	Unable to specify score due to fluctuating health conditions	V	V
	Providing a score range instead of an exact score		V
	Perceiving the response options in e-EQ-5D-5L/VAS as too “severe”		V
Perceived usefulness
Usefulness to patients	Understand the patient situation	V
	Helpful for treatment	V
	Uncertain usefulness	V
	Not useful to patient	V	V
Usefulness to others	Useful to researcher	V
Usefulness to others	Useful to other patients	V
Feasibility
Time for completing the e-EQ-5D-5L/VAS	Short completion time	V	V
	Feel like chatting	V
	Difficulties with finding the patients in the clinic		V
	Slight impact by unstable network		V
	Limited time before consultation		V
Time for consultation	Time-saving by knowing their painful condition before the consultation	V
Poor patient attitudes	Annoyance by repeated surveys		V
Poor patient attitudes	Perceiving (the EQ-5D-5L information) useless		V

ISSN: 1477-7525