• Junghee Yoon, Soo-Kyung Cho, Se Rim Choi, Soo-Bin Lee, Juhee Cho, Chan Hong Jeon, Geun-Tae Kim, Jisoo Lee, and Yoon-Kyoung Sung.
• Department of Clinical Research Design and Evaluation, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.
• J. Korean Med. Sci. 2025 Jan 6; 40 (1): e67e67.

BackgroundThis study aimed to identify key priorities for the development of guidelines for information and communication technology (ICT)-based patient education tailored to the needs of patients with rheumatic diseases (RDs) in the Republic of Korea, based on expert consensus.MethodsA two-round modified Delphi study was conducted with 20 rheumatology, patient education, and digital health literacy experts. A total of 35 items covering 7 domains and 18 subdomains were evaluated. Each item was evaluated for its level of importance, and the responses were rated on a 4-point Likert scale. Consensus levels were defined as "high" (interquartile range [IQR] ≤ 1, agreement ≥ 80%, content validity ratio [CVR] ≥ 0.7), "Moderate" (IQR ≥ 1, agreement 50-79%, CVR 0.5-0.7), and "Low" (IQR > 1, agreement < 50%, CVR < 0.5).ResultsStrong consensus was reached for key priorities for developing guidelines in areas such as health literacy, digital health literacy, medical terminology, user interface, and user experience design for mobile apps. Chatbot use and video (e.g., YouTube) also achieved high consensus, whereas AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT showed moderate-to-high agreement. Telemedicine was excluded because of insufficient consensus.ConclusionThe key priorities identified in this study provide a foundation for the development of ICT-based patient education guidelines for RDs in the Republic of Korea. Future efforts should focus on integrating digital tools into clinical practice to enhance patient engagement and improve clinical outcomes.© 2025 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.

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