 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Lisa A Sutherland, PhD, Department of Nutrition/CHAI Core, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 7461, 4109 McG, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, 919-966-5635, lsutherl@email.unc.edu, Beth Fowler, MSIS, Nutrition/CHAI Core, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB7461, 4103 McG, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, Michael Pignone, MD, MPH, Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 7110, Chapel Hill, NC 27713, and Marci K. Campbell, PhD, MPH, RD, Dept. of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Box 7400, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
There is tremendous potential for health education and promotion benefits to consumers and health care professionals through the use of web-based health interventions and other electronic sources. However, the systematic assessment of the effectiveness of such tools in reaching and teaching their intended audiences is not often conducted, but may greatly impact their widespread adoption. Usability testing is a methods-based technique used to evaluate information systems, with the goal of making them safe, efficient, easy, and comfortable for people to use. We conducted usability testing while developing a web-based colorectal cancer decision aid to be implemented in health clinics with diverse patient populations as a part of a randomized control trial. We were particularly concerned with the adoption of the technology by patients with limited literacy and computer skill levels. Two rounds of testing were conducted; one to examine how patients interacted with the aid and the second to confirm changes to the system design. Testing was conducted with twelve internal medicine clinic patients of varying literacy and computer skill levels. Several design issues were identified during the testing including navigation problems, lack of knowledge about how to use pop up boxes, key icons (audio) not recognized or utilized, and problems with answering the online survey tool. This phase of user testing was important in understanding how successful patients would be in accessing, understanding, and absorbing the health information from the decision-aid, in particular, and in gaining a better understanding of how patients interacted with computer-mediated health information, in general.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Internet, Public Health Education and Health Promotion
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.