Background:
The short inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire (sibdq) is a written, self-administered instrument measuring quality of life in ibd. we assessed the validity of an interactive voice response system (ivrs) as a new mode of administering the sibdq.
Methods:
An ivrs was designed using prerecorded questions to collect data via touchtone telephone. subjects with crohn's disease (cd) or ulcerative colitis (uc) were randomized into 2 groups with different orders of administration: written, self-administered followed by ivrs (s-i) or ivrs followed by written, self-administered (i-s). half of the s-i group was also randomized to receive a second ivrs. sixty-four subjects were studied: 30 in s-i, 34 in i-s.
Results:
The mean sibdq scores were not different between written and ivrs modes (p = 0.26) with r = 0.93. ivrs scores were lower in active than inactive cd (36.1 +/- 9.6 versus 54.7 +/- 8.6, p < 0.001) and lower in active than inactive uc (40.8 +/- 9.6 versus 59.8 +/- 10.0, p < 0.001). mean scores correlated highly with disease activity indices, and were not different between first and second ivrs administrations (p = 0.85) with r = 0.92. ivrs had excellent internal consistency (cronbach alpha = 0.90).
Conclusions:
Ivrs administration of the sibdq yields results similar to written self-administration, with excellent procedural validity, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency.