Development and validation of a novel treatment adherence, satisfaction and knowledge questionnaire (TASK-Q) for adult patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disorders.

PURPOSE: Successful treatment outcomes of adults with hypothalamic-pituitary disorders necessitate the adoption of intricate self-management behaviors, yet current scales for evaluating treatment adherence and satisfaction are inadequate for this patient group. This research introduces a novel treatment adherence, satisfaction and knowledge questionnaire (TASK-Q) developed specifically to identify patients' unmet needs in better assessing and managing these disorders. METHODS: The study was conducted in three phases: (1) generating items and testing content validity, (2) refining these items through a pilot study, and (3) a main study evaluating the psychometric properties of the TASK-Q scale among 262 adults in a Pituitary Nurse-led Clinic, with 152 (58%) patients completing the questionnaire. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis was used to test the factor structure and construct validity of the TASK-Q, revealing a 22-item scale divided into Satisfaction and Knowledge (17 items) and Adherence (5 items) subscales, and exhibiting high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.90). Significant correlations were identified between satisfaction and knowledge (r = 0.67, p < 0.001), satisfaction and adherence (r = 0.23, p = 0.005), and knowledge and adherence (r = 0.43, p < 0.001). Complex treatment regimens, like daily growth hormone injections and adjusting glucocorticoids during illness, negatively affected adherence (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The TASK-Q is a novel validated scale that can effectively evaluate patients' perspectives on adherence, knowledge and satisfaction. Our findings highlight the significant impact of Advanced Nurse Practitioners in improving patient self-management behaviors, which likely leads to better treatment outcomes for people with hypothalamic-pituitary disorders.

Spectrum of Endocrine Disorders as Seen in a Tertiary Health Facility in Sagamu, Southwest Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: There is dearth of records on prevalence and spectrum of adult endocrine disorders in Nigeria. OBJECTIVE: To document the spectrum of endocrine disorders as seen in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism (EDM) outpatient clinic, Department of Medicine of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Ogun State over a 3-year period. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of the medical records of all new consultations seen in the EDM outpatient clinic between January 2016 and December 2018. All endocrinology diagnoses were classified according to the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health problems (ICD-10). Information on demographic, source of referral, baseline clinical, and biochemical indices were gleaned and subjected to descriptive statistics using SPSS version 21, and results were presented as proportions (frequencies and percentages) and mean (±standard deviation). RESULTS: Two thousand seven hundred and sixty-five patients were seen and managed at EDM outpatient clinic over the specified time frame. Eight hundred and sixty-three were new cases, age range 16-88, mean of 54.10 (±13.9) years with female preponderance 520 (60.3%) and female-to-male ratio of 1.5:1. The internal referral system constituted the main means of referral to the EDM clinic. The most common endocrine referrals were diabetes mellitus (DM) (697, 80.8%) and thyroid disorders (119, 13.8%) followed by metabolic syndrome (29, 3.36%) and hypothalamic-pituitary disorders (HPOs, 9, 1.04%). CONCLUSION: The common endocrine cases seen in Sagamu are DM, thyroid diseases, metabolic syndrome, and HPO similar to worldwide trend.