eDiaries: How Often Is Too Often?

By Valdo Arnera, MD – eCOA Scientific Advisor

Clinical researchers have been using eDiaries for decades. However, two common questions have continued to arise over the years regarding the frequency of issued questionnaires and the number of questions that should be asked in each entry. That is, how much can researchers reasonably ask of a patient daily? What about weekly or monthly? Too often may lead to poor compliance; not frequently enough may result in not enough electronic patient-reported outcome data being collected for a study.

When it comes to planning a schedule for patients and their eDiary, it's important to remember to keep the questions relevant and easy to understand. The number of questions should also be kept to a minimum to gather only the necessary data points.

Consider these guiding principles when creating questionaries and schedules for patient eDiaries in clinical trials.