Exploring Public Perceptions of Telenursing: A Q Methodology Study

To investigate public perceptions of telenursing in South Korea, an Asian country that is transitioning to the introduction of telenursing and possesses a high level of information and communication technology. This study sought to uncover strategies for the successful introduction and extension of telenursing by identifying the characteristics of existing perceptions.

Q methodology was applied.

A total of 188 Q populations were selected from the literature, Internet sources, newspaper articles and in-depth interviews about telenursing, from which the final 37 Q statements were derived. Forty-nine people who were expected to have diverse perspectives about telenursing were selected purposively and participated in Q-sorting. The data were obtained from November 2022 to December 2022 and analysed with principal component analysis and varimax rotations using PQMethod version 2.11.

Five types of perceptions regarding telenursing in South Korea were identified: 'Factor I: Preference for convenience and efficiency of telenursing, Active acceptance', 'Factor II: Complete support for telenursing, Total acceptance', 'Factor III: Complete skepticism for telenursing, Total nonacceptance', 'Factor IV: Expectance of the supplementary roles of telenursing, Immediate acceptance' and 'Factor V: Expectance of the supplementary roles of telenursing, Prolonged acceptance'.

Patients and the public were not involved in this study's design, recruitment and implementation.