Table 3.
Characteristics of quality of telemedicine using the phone and online platforms
| Question/response | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | Median | Interquartile range | |
| Counselling over the phone | 216 | |||
| Previous experience with performing remote nutrition counselling | ||||
| Yes | 83 | 38·8 | ||
| Very little | 39 | 18·2 | ||
| No | 92 | 43·0 | ||
| How would you compare phone nutrition counselling to usual nutrition counselling (face-to-face)? | ||||
| Superior to face-to-face counselling | 7 | 3·3 | ||
| Similar to face-to-face counselling | 53 | 25·2 | ||
| Inferior to face-to-face counselling | 138 | 65·4 | ||
| Not certain | 13 | 6·1 | ||
| Quality of counselling** | ||||
| Overall quality* | 7·0 | 2·0 | ||
| Technical quality* | 7·0 | 4·0 | ||
| Clinical quality* | 7·0 | 2·0 | ||
| Organisational difficulties* | 7·0 | 3·0 | ||
| Convenience† | 4·0 | 2·0 | ||
| Future use† | 3·0 | 4·0 | ||
| Perceived level of patient comfort in receiving remote counselling* | 8·0 | 3·0 | ||
| Types of difficulties reported during counselling | ||||
| Technical difficulties | 69 | 56·2 | ||
| Interpersonal communication difficulties | 18 | 14·6 | ||
| Difficulties due to lack of anthropometric measurements | 31 | 25·2 | ||
| Difficulties/inconvenience from conducting the session in the home environment | 3 | 2·4 | ||
| Other | 2 | 1·6 | ||
| Perceived level of patient comfort in receiving remote counselling* | 8·0 | 3·0 | ||
| Perceived level of patient comfort in receiving remote counselling* | 7·0 | 2·0 | ||
| Types of difficulties reported during counselling | ||||
| Technical difficulties | 90 | 46·9 | ||
| Interpersonal communication difficulties | 37 | 19·3 | ||
| Difficulties due to lack of anthropometric measurements | 54 | 28·1 | ||
| Difficulties/inconvenience from conducting the session in the home environment | 4 | 2·1 | ||
| Other | 7 | 3·6 | ||
| Counselling using an online platform | 159 | |||
| Previous experience with performing online video nutrition counselling | ||||
| Yes | 56 | 40·6 | ||
| Very little | 20 | 14·5 | ||
| No | 24 | 17·4 | ||
| I learned to use the online platforms during the coronavirus pandemic | 38 | 27·5 | ||
| How would you compare online nutrition counselling to usual nutrition counselling (face-to-face)? | ||||
| Superior to face-to-face counselling | 4 | 4·4 | ||
| Similar to face-to-face counselling | 40 | 43·9 | ||
| Inferior to face-to-face counselling | 44 | 48·4 | ||
| Not certain | 3 | 3·3 | ||
| Quality of counselling** | ||||
| Overall quality* | 8·0 | 2·0 | ||
| Technical quality* | 7·0 | 2·0 | ||
| Clinical quality* | 8·0 | 4·0 | ||
| Organisational difficulties* | 7·0 | 6·0 | ||
| Convenience† | 3·0 | 1·0 | ||
| Future use† | 3·0 | 1·0 | ||
| Perceived level of patient comfort in receiving remote counselling* | 7·0 | 2·0 | ||
| Types of difficulties reported during counselling | ||||
| Technical difficulties | 90 | 46·9 | ||
| Interpersonal communication difficulties | 37 | 19·3 | ||
| Difficulties due to lack of anthropometric measurements | 54 | 28·1 | ||
| Difficulties/inconvenience from conducting the session in the home environment | 4 | 2·1 | ||
| Other | 7 | 3·6 | ||
| Perceived level of client comfort in receiving remote counselling* | 8·0 | 3·0 | ||
| Types of difficulties reported during counselling | ||||
| Technical difficulties | 69 | 56·2 | ||
| Interpersonal communication difficulties | 18 | 14·6 | ||
| Difficulties due to lack of anthropometric measurements | 31 | 25·2 | ||
| Difficulties/inconvenience from conducting the session in the home environment | 3 | 2·4 | ||
| Other | 2 | 1·6 | ||
*
Items scored on a ten-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 10, where 1 = ‘very low’ to 10 ‘very high’.
†
Items scored on a four-point response scale, where 1 = ‘very little’ and 4 = ‘high’.