Development of a questionnaire to assess experience and preference of intranasal corticosteroids in patients with allergic rhinitis

Abstract

Background:Allergic rhinitis affects 10%–20% of the US population. Its chronic nature, combined with patients’ perceptions of safety/efficacy, administration, and sensory attributes of nasal sprays (corticosteroids), impact patient adherence to therapy. The purpose of this study was to develop a measure of experience with and preference for corticosteroid therapy for treatment of allergic rhinitis.Methods:Questionnaire development was conducted through qualitative research including concept elicitation and content testing in 153 patients with allergic rhinitis. Patient focus groups (n = 66), in conjunction with content confirmation and saturation in additional groups (n = 87), provided research data. A literature-based conceptual framework was incorporated into the interview guide. An iterative process of data collection, analysis, and theory development yielded the conceptual framework.Results:Consistent comments from the focus groups combined with those from cognitive debriefing interviews led to the incorporation of 14 finalized attributes into the Experience with Allergic Rhinitis Nasal Spray Questionnaire (EARNS-Q) items. Between the first and second cognitive debriefing interviews, researchers revised the EARNS-Q for retesting. Face and content validity tests indicated that the items, responses, and instructions were understood by study participants. The EARNS-Q is comprised of two modules that measure patient experience with nasal sprays (experience module), and patient preference for a nasal spray relative to another (preference module).Conclusion:The EARNS-Q accurately measured patient experience with and preference for nasal sprays used in treating allergic rhinitis. A potential application of this questionnaire may be as a patient-reported outcomes endpoint in clinical trials of intranasal corticosteroids in patients with allergic rhinitis.

The impact of telemonitoring on adherence to nasal corticosteroid treatment in children with seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis

“…Second, the unexpected low temperature and pollen exposure contributed to lower the severity of disease, thus limiting the chances to observe also a clinical impact of higher mometasone consumption. Third, the impact of the informatics platform on adherence to therapy could be underestimated in this study with respect to a real‐life routine setting, where adherence to treatment generally might be lower than that of our study's control group . The most important confounder may be due to a few peculiar characteristic of our study population.…”

“…In particular, patients' adherence to the prescribed use of NCS is quite low . In the last few years, a new questionnaire has been developed which looks deeper on the problems and difficulties of NCS application and may be a useful help to enhance adherence to NCS therapy . Medication adherence is commonly defined as: ‘the extent to which a patient acts in accordance with the prescribed interval and dose of a dosing regimen’ .…”

Development of a Tool to Identify Patients' Preference for Vitamin K Antagonist or Direct Oral Anticoagulant Therapy

“…The goal of this phase of development of the questionnaire was to elicit patients' experiences with oral anticoagulation for the treatment of AF and venous thromboembolism (VTE). 23 This phase was performed in a German focus group of patients on treatment with VKA using a structured discussion guide. Patients were recruited from the 4th Department of Medicine of the Medical Faculty Mannheim.…”

“…Thus, rephrasing of the questions of our self-developed questionnaire was not required for further investigations. 23,41…”

“…14 Some investigations have addressed this and correlated the patients' preferences with the willingness to pay for DOAC, 19 the preparedness of patients to use DOAC instead of VKA for anticoagulation, 20,21 and the motivation of patients to participate in clinical studies with DOAC 22 using questionnaires that were developed according to published techniques. 23 The patient preferences regarding treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS identified a high impact of quality of life on patients' preferences for the selection of treatments was identified. 24 Furthermore, a tool was described to improve the adherence to HIV treatment based on psychological and environmental factors.…”