Authors:
Bilal Maqbool
1
;
Farzaneh Karegar
2
and
Sebastian Herold
1
Affiliations:
1
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Faculty of Health, Science and Technology, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
;
2
Department of Information Systems, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
Keyword(s):
Usability Evaluation (UE), Digital Health (DH), eHealth, Survey, Questionnaire.
Abstract:
Context: Usability is a major factor in the acceptance of digital health (DH) solutions. Problem: Despite its importance, usability experts have expressed concerns about the insufficient attention given to usability evaluation in practice, indicating potential efficiency problems of common evaluation methods in the healthcare domain. Objectives: This research paper aimed to analyse industrial usability evaluation practices in digital health to identify potential threats to the efficiency of their application. Method: To this end, we conducted an online survey of 144 usability experts experienced in usability evaluations for digital health applications. The survey questions aimed to explore the prevalence of techniques applied, and the participants’ familiarity and perceptions regarding tools and techniques. Results: The prevalently applied techniques might impose efficiency problems in common scenarios in digital health. Participant recruitment is considered time-consuming and select
ing the most appropriate evaluation method for a given context is perceived difficult. The results highlight a lack of utilisation of tools automating aspects of usability evaluation. Conclusions: A more widespread adoption of tools for automating usability evaluation activities seems desirable as well as guidelines for selecting evaluation techniques in a given context. We furthermore recommend to explore AI-based solutions to address the problem of involving targeted user groups that are difficult to access for usability evaluations.
(More)