Department of Primary Care Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2020 Jan 31;8(1):e15146. doi: 10.2196/15146.
To date, several medication adherence apps have been developed. However, the existing apps have been developed without involving relevant stakeholders and were not subjected to mobile health app guidelines. In addition, the usability and utility of these apps have not been tested with end users.
This study aimed to describe the usability and utility testing of a newly developed medication adherence app-Med Assist-among ambulatory care patients in Malaysia.
The Med Assist app was developed based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Nielson usability model. Beta testing was conducted from March to May 2016 at a primary care clinic in Kuala Lumpur. Ambulatory care patients who scored ≥40% on the electronic health literacy scale, were aged ≥21 years, and were taking two or more long-term medications were recruited. Two rounds of in-depth interviews were conducted with each participant. The first interview, which was conducted upon participant recruitment, was to assess the usability of Med Assist. Participants were asked to download Med Assist on their phone and perform two tasks (register themselves on Med Assist and enter at least one medication). Participants were encouraged to "concurrently think aloud" when using Med Assist, while nonverbal cues were observed and recorded. The participants were then invited for a second interview (conducted ≥7 days after the first interview) to assess the utility of Med Assist after using the app for 1 week. This was done using "retrospective probing" based on a topic guide developed for utilities that could improve medication adherence.
Usability and utility testing was performed for the Med Assist app (version P4). A total of 13 participants were recruited (6 men, 7 women) for beta testing. Three themes emerged from the usability testing, while three themes emerged from the utility testing. From the usability testing, participants found Med Assist easy to use and user friendly, as they were able to complete the tasks given to them. However, the details required when adding a new medication were found to be confusing despite displaying information in a hierarchical order. Participants who were caregivers as well as patients found the multiple-user support and pill buddy utility useful. This suggests that Med Assist may improve the medication adherence of patients on multiple long-term medications.
The usability and utility testing of Med Assist with end users made the app more patient centered in ambulatory care. From the usability testing, the overall design and layout of Med Assist were simple and user friendly enough for participants to navigate through the app and add a new medication. From the participants' perspectives, Med Assist was a useful and reliable tool with the potential to improve medication adherence. In addition, utilities such as multiple user support and a medication refill reminder encouraged improved medication management.
迄今为止，已经开发出了几种药物依从性应用程序。然而，现有的应用程序是在没有涉及相关利益相关者的情况下开发的，并且没有遵循移动健康应用程序指南。此外，这些应用程序的可用性和实用性尚未经过最终用户的测试。
本研究旨在描述在马来西亚的门诊患者中对新开发的药物依从性应用程序 Med Assist 的可用性和实用性测试。
Med Assist 应用程序是基于计划行为理论和尼尔森可用性模型开发的。从 2016 年 3 月至 5 月，在吉隆坡的一家初级保健诊所进行了 Beta 测试。招募了电子健康素养量表得分≥40%、年龄≥21 岁且服用两种或两种以上长期药物的门诊患者。对每位参与者进行了两轮深入访谈。第一轮访谈在参与者招募时进行，以评估 Med Assist 的可用性。要求参与者在手机上下载 Med Assist 并执行两项任务（在 Med Assist 上注册自己并输入至少一种药物）。鼓励参与者在使用 Med Assist 时“同时进行思考”，同时观察和记录非言语线索。然后邀请参与者进行第二轮访谈（在第一轮访谈后至少 7 天进行），在使用应用程序一周后评估 Med Assist 的实用性。这是通过基于用于提高药物依从性的主题指南的“回溯性探查”来完成的。
对 Med Assist 应用程序（版本 P4）进行了可用性和实用性测试。共有 13 名参与者（6 名男性，7 名女性）被招募参加 Beta 测试。从可用性测试中出现了三个主题，而从实用性测试中出现了三个主题。从可用性测试中可以看出，参与者发现 Med Assist 易于使用且用户友好，因为他们能够完成分配给他们的任务。然而，尽管按照层次结构显示信息，但添加新药物时所需的详细信息却令人困惑。既是照顾者又是患者的参与者发现多用户支持和药丸伙伴实用程序很有用。这表明 Med Assist 可能会提高服用多种长期药物的患者的药物依从性。
通过最终用户对 Med Assist 进行可用性和实用性测试，使该应用程序在门诊护理中更加以患者为中心。从可用性测试中可以看出，Med Assist 的整体设计和布局足够简单和用户友好，参与者可以通过该应用程序浏览并添加新药物。从参与者的角度来看，Med Assist 是一种有用且可靠的工具，具有提高药物依从性的潜力。此外，多用户支持和药物补充提醒等实用程序鼓励改善药物管理。
