PubMed · 14959688
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Laurinda Poirier-Solomon. 2002. Slowing down.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14959688/
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OBJECTIVES: To describe the development and validation of low literacy English and Spanish versions of the 26-item Telemedicine Satisfaction and Usefulness Questionnaire (TSUQ), report telemedicine satisfaction and usefulness ratings of urban and rural participants in the Informatics for Diabetes Education and Telemedicine (IDEATel) project, and explore relationships between utilization and perceptions of satisfaction and usefulness. METHODS: Data sources included TSUQ, utilization data from IDEATel log files, and sociodemographic data from the annual IDEATel interview. Psychometric analyses were conducted to examine the reliability and validity of TSUQ. Data were analyzed using descriptive, correlational techniques. RESULTS: The principal components factor analysis extracted two factors (Video Visits, alpha=.96, and Use and Impact, alpha=.92) that explained 63.6% of the variance in TSUQ satisfaction scores. All satisfaction and usefulness items had mean scores of greater than 4 on a 5-point scale. Those from urban areas reported significantly higher ratings on both factors than rural participants as did those who did not know how to use a computer at baseline. Mean frequency of utilization of IDEATel components was highest for blood sugar testing followed by web site for reviewing results, blood pressure testing, video visits, and ADA educational Web pages. Associations between utilization and perceptions of satisfaction and usefulness varied among IDEATel components. CONCLUSION: Psychometric analyses support the construct validity and internal consistency reliability of TSUQ, which is available in both English and Spanish at a readability level of 8th grade. Both rural and urban participants reported high levels of satisfaction and found all IDEATel components useful. Further work is needed to examine the relationships between utilization and perceptions of satisfaction and usefulness and to explore the effects of location (urban versus rural) and ethnicity on satisfaction with telemedicine services.
Production of synthetic rubber involves exposure to several potentially harmful chemicals. The authors carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies of workers in the rubber-producing industry. Data were obtained from computerized literature searches of several databases from their inception through December 2003. The reference lists of identified articles were inspected for further relevant articles. The authors conducted random-effects meta-analyses of log standardized mortality ratios (SMRs)/standardized incidence ratios. Heterogeneity between study results was explored through subgroup analyses and meta-regression on cohort demographic factors and study quality indicators. The authors identified 36 published articles reporting information on 31 different cohort groups. The meta-SMR was 0.86 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.82, 0.91) for all-cause mortality (28 cohorts) and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.89, 1.01) for all malignant neoplasms (27 cohorts). Heterogeneity was observed for these endpoints and for the majority of disease-specific outcomes. Statistically significant excesses were observed for diabetes (meta-SMR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.17, 1.59) (five cohorts) and leukemia (meta-SMR=1.21, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.43) (16 cohorts), the latter particularly for persons working exclusively in nontire manufacturing (meta-SMR=1.70, 95% CI: 1.14, 2.54) (four cohorts). Excesses highlighted in previous narrative reviews were not substantiated. Interpretation of these results is complicated by substantial unexplainable heterogeneity; small excesses in specific mortality outcomes may have been disguised by the healthy worker effect.