Hanghøj Signe, Boisen Kirsten A, Hjerming Maiken, Elsbernd Abbey, Pappot Helle
Center of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Department of Hematology, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
JMIR Cancer. 2020 Jan 2;6(1):e15008. doi: 10.2196/15008.
Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients are seldom involved in the process of testing cancer-related apps. As such, knowledge about youth-specific content, functionalities, and design is sparse. As a part of a co-creation process of developing the mobile phone app Kræftværket, AYAs in treatment for cancer and in follow-up participated in a usability think-aloud test of a prototype of the app. Thus, the app was initiated, created, and evaluated by AYAs with cancer experience.
The aim of this study was to explore the results of a think-aloud test administered to see how the prototype of the app Kræftværket was used by AYAs in treatment for cancer and in follow-up, and to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the app.
A total of 20 AYA cancer patients aged 16 to 29 years (n=10 on treatment, n=10 in follow-up) were provided with the first version of the co-created mobile phone app Kræftværket during a 6-week test period (April-May 2018). After the test period, 15 participated in individual usability think-aloud tests. The tests were video-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.
The thematic analysis led to the following themes and subthemes: navigation (subthemes: intuition, features, buttons, home page, profile), visual and graphic design (subthemes: overview, text and colors, photos, videos, YouTube), and usefulness (subthemes: notifications, posts, adding). The analysis identified gender differences in app utilization-female participants seemed to be more familiar with parts of the app. The app seemed to be more relevant to AYAs receiving treatment due to app functions such as tracking symptoms and searching for relevant information. Lack of notifications and incorrect counting of posts were perceived as barriers to using the app.
Usability testing is crucial to meet the needs of the AYA target audience. AYA cancer apps should preferably be relevant, targeted, and unique, and include a tracking function and AYA-produced videos. Notifications and correct marking and ordering of posts are critical to make apps engaging and dynamic. Further research is recommended to evaluate the Kræftværket app with the input of more AYAs.
青少年及青年（AYA）癌症患者很少参与癌症相关应用程序的测试过程。因此，关于针对青少年的特定内容、功能和设计的知识非常匮乏。作为开发手机应用程序Kræftværket共创过程的一部分，正在接受癌症治疗及后续随访的AYA患者参与了该应用程序原型的可用性出声思考测试。因此，该应用程序是由有癌症经历的AYA患者发起、创建和评估的。
本研究的目的是探讨为了解癌症治疗及后续随访中的AYA患者如何使用应用程序Kræftværket原型而进行的出声思考测试结果，并调查该应用程序的优缺点。
在为期6周的测试期（2018年4月至5月）内，向20名年龄在16至29岁的AYA癌症患者（10名正在接受治疗，10名处于随访中）提供了共创手机应用程序Kræftværket的第一版。测试期结束后，15名患者参与了个人可用性出声思考测试。测试过程进行了视频录制，逐字转录，并采用主题分析方法进行分析。
主题分析得出以下主题和子主题：导航（子主题：直觉、功能、按钮、主页、个人资料）、视觉和图形设计（子主题：概述、文本和颜色、照片、视频、YouTube）以及有用性（子主题：通知、帖子、添加）。分析发现应用程序使用方面存在性别差异——女性参与者似乎对应用程序的某些部分更熟悉。由于跟踪症状和搜索相关信息等应用功能，该应用程序似乎与正在接受治疗的AYA患者更相关。缺乏通知以及帖子计数错误被视为使用该应用程序的障碍。
可用性测试对于满足AYA目标受众的需求至关重要。AYA癌症应用程序最好应具有相关性、针对性和独特性，并包括跟踪功能以及AYA患者制作的视频。通知以及帖子的正确标记和排序对于使应用程序具有吸引力和动态性至关重要。建议进一步开展研究，在更多AYA患者的参与下评估Kræftværket应用程序。
