Table 5

Implementation considerations of the electronic SF-HDQ in clinical practice: administration

Implementation considerationAdministration considerationDescription/example quotations
Burden of administrationTime to administer and complete the SF-HDQ in clinical practice
  • I don’t think anyone in the clinic will or has time to do anything extra. (US-HCP-P20)

  • How would you do it in a post-COVID world when you’re trying to reduce waiting time? (IRE-HCP-P15)

Conundrum of identifying health challenges with limited resources to address then
  • It’s a great questionnaire but the problem is there’s no way that we can address the issues after it’s done and we have the information. (CAN-HCP-P23)

  • Well, I think if we’re going to ask all those questions, we need to have strategies in place to deal with all the answers and I’m not sure that we have at the moment. (IRE-HCP-P15)

Logistical issues (security of tablets for electronic administration, internet, space)
  • Gadgets tend to walk out the door. (IRE-HCP-P15)

  • To get a room and a computer…it’s challenging in a resource-stretched and starved environment. (IRE-HCP-P13)

Person-centred approaches for tailoring mode of administrationUse of technology—familiarity and comfort
  • I still find with a lot of our patients, particularly the over 50 group, that their IT skills might not what is required for this and that they might now have a computer and they might not have WIFI access. (IRE-HCP-P15)

  • Technology challenges definitely. I think most people with a tablet would go through it fairly quickly but there are probably people who are technologically challenged and it might be a little more difficult. (CAN-PLWH-P15)

Literacy of disability and health challenge terminology in the questionnaire
  • I think [the wording] might be beyond the reach of some of the patients you want to capture. So, people who maybe haven’t had the chance to finish school, and we have a lot of them, or patients who are you know refugees, or you know English is not their first language. (IRE-HCP-P16)

  • I can think there might be, you know, depending on the education level of a participant, they might have trouble with some of the verbiage. (US-PLWH-P18)

Cognitive health challenges that may influence the ability to complete the questionnaire
  • Because of the very real kind of neuro features of the HIV, especially with the long-term survivors. (CAN-HCP-P5)

  • I guess it would come down to their problems with their cognitive impairment and thought you know because people seem to have an awful lot of cognitive impairment problems that I’ve seen with HIV. (CAN-PLWH-03)

Flexible options for modes and processes of administrationFormat (electronic or paper based)
  • I think electronic I would prefer. But there are going to be people that need paper. (CAN-HCP-01)

  • It’s a lot easier than say a pen and paper. (US-PLWH-P12)

  • It was really easy to fill out online. (US-PLWH-P2)

Location of administration (home or clinic)
  • I would not want to do this during a clinic visit. … if you do it on the computer, that’s good. … Let’s say I’m going to have a visit tomorrow and you send it to me the day before. I can fill it out and send it and then not have to worry about it. Like I said, I would not want to go into a visit because I’m going into a visit to do whatever, get checked and I want to be gone. Then those that don’t have a computer, maybe send the questionnaire in the mail and you know put their please fill out before visit and then have them bring it in with them. (US-PLWH-11)

  • I prefer that [completing the questionnaire with a clinician in clinic] because if I am with her or him one by one, then I can ask a question, then you can answer me or you can ask me a question, then I can answer. If I heard her answer and I can ask an explanation. (CAN-PLWH-04)

Timing of administration (prior to or after clinic appointment)
  • I think like either during the appointment or after … if there’s a wait time before the client has to come in, then it’s a great time to take care of the survey because then they feel like no time is being wasted if they have something to do. (US-PLWH-13)

  • I think before an appointment because I feel like after an appointment, you’re ready to go. So, I think before an appointment would be ideal. Unfortunately, too because it may help bring out things that they forgot to talk about during their appointment. So, if they’re taking it beforehand it might help them think of things that they may have forgotten about. (CAN-PLWH-P16)

Person to administer (self, practitioner or administratively administered)
  • I think it should come from your primary care doctor. (US-PLWH-14)

  • It could be that we do an intake and then sort of get an administrative person to meet with them before their next visit. Yeah, I think either of those options could work. (CAN-HCP-P2)

  • CAN, Canada (Toronto, Ontario); HCP, healthcare practitioner; IRE, Ireland (Dublin); P, participant; PLWH, participant living with HIV; SF-HDQ, Short-Form HIV Disability Questionnaire; US, United States (Denver, Colorado).