Usability testing of a tablet-based self-management application for older adults with T2DM: The ASSISTwell application
Mohammad Y. Alkawaldeh PhD RN MSN*, Cynthia S. Jacelon PhD RN-BC CRRN FGSA FAAN, Jeungok Choi PhD RN MPH
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AbstractBackground: Usability improvements are pivotal to technological applications in the healthcare industry. However, while they can transform healthcare, such applications are useless if they are not effective or easy to use.
Objective: To examine the usability factors of the tablet-based ASSISTwell self-management application for older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and refine the application.
Methods: This study used qualitative semi-structured interviews and end-user testing using the think-aloud technique, whereby a purposive sample of 12 older adult individuals with T2DM was recruited. Descriptive and inferential analyses were used to analyze the quantitative data, and thematic analysis was used to organize the emerging usability themes.
Results: The overall experience was expressed in 10 overarching usability themes, namely overall satisfaction, ease of use, ease of navigation, simplicity, usefulness and helpfulness, presentation, efficiency, application errors, and excitement and acceptance. End-user testing data showed that most participants were able to complete easy and moderate tasks with a high success rate (95-100%), in a short amount of time (0.08 to 2.21 minutes per task), and with minimal errors (0-3 errors per task). The average System Usability Scale (SUS) score was 91.60 (SD =5.65) and 92.05 (SD =11) for weeks 1 and 4, respectively. The study highlighted 23 suggested features to be considered in the next version of the ASSISTwell or any future T2DM application.
Conclusion: Examining usability is an essential step in application development to ensure that the application's features match users' expectations and needs and to minimize the likelihood of user errors and difficulties in using the system.Keywords: Self-management, diabetes mellitus, usability testing, tablet-based application
Mohammad Y. Alkawaldeh PhD RN MSN*, Cynthia S. Jacelon PhD RN-BC CRRN FGSA FAAN, Jeungok Choi PhD RN MPH (2020). Usability testing of a tablet-based self-management application for older adults with T2DM: The ASSISTwell application. Gerontechnology, 20(1), 1-13
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2020.20.1.399.08