Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States.
JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2021 Mar 26;7(3):e25859. doi: 10.2196/25859.
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed life in the United States, as the country has recorded over 23 million cases and 383,000 deaths to date. In the leadup to widespread vaccine deployment, testing and surveillance are critical for detecting and stopping possible routes of transmission. Contact tracing has become an important surveillance measure to control COVID-19 in the United States, and mobile health interventions have found increased prominence in this space.
The aim of this study was to investigate the use and usability of MyCOVIDKey, a mobile-based web app to assist COVID-19 contact tracing efforts, during the 6-week pilot period.
A 6-week study was conducted on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, Tennessee. The study participants, consisting primarily of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty in the Chemistry Department at Vanderbilt University, were asked to use the MyCOVIDKey web app during the course of the study period. Paradata were collected as users engaged with the MyCOVIDKey web app. At the end of the study, all participants were asked to report on their user experience in a survey, and the results were analyzed in the context of the user paradata.
During the pilot period, 45 users enrolled in MyCOVIDKey. An analysis of their enrollment suggests that initial recruiting efforts were effective; however, participant recruitment and engagement efforts at the midpoint of the study were less effective. App use paralleled the number of users, indicating that incentives were useful for recruiting new users to sign up but did not result in users attempting to artificially inflate their use as a result of prize offers. Times to completion of key tasks were low, indicating that the main features of the app could be used quickly. Of the 45 users, 30 provided feedback through a postpilot survey, with 26 (58%) completing it in its entirety. The MyCOVIDKey app as a whole was rated 70.0 on the System Usability Scale, indicating that it performed above the accepted threshold for usability. When the key-in and self-assessment features were examined on their own, it was found that they individually crossed the same thresholds for acceptable usability but that the key-in feature had a higher margin for improvement.
The MyCOVIDKey app was found overall to be a useful tool for COVID-19 contact tracing in a university setting. Most users suggested simple-to-implement improvements, such as replacing the web app framework with a native app format or changing the placement of the scanner within the app workflow. After these updates, this tool could be readily deployed and easily adapted to other settings across the country. The need for digital contact tracing tools is becoming increasingly apparent, particularly as COVID-19 case numbers continue to increase while more businesses begin to reopen.
新冠疫情已极大地改变了美国人的生活，美国迄今已记录了超过 2300 万例病例和 38.3 万例死亡。在广泛部署疫苗之前，检测和监测对于发现和阻止可能的传播途径至关重要。接触者追踪已成为美国控制 COVID-19 的一项重要监测措施，移动健康干预措施在这方面得到了更多的重视。
本研究旨在调查 MyCOVIDKey 在田纳西州纳什维尔范德比尔特大学校园进行的 6 周试点期间的使用情况和可用性。
在田纳西州纳什维尔的范德比尔特大学进行了一项为期 6 周的研究。研究参与者主要由研究生、博士后研究人员和范德比尔特大学化学系的教师组成，他们在研究期间被要求使用 MyCOVIDKey 网络应用程序。参与者在使用 MyCOVIDKey 网络应用程序时收集了使用情况数据。在研究结束时，所有参与者都被要求在调查中报告他们的用户体验，并且根据用户使用情况数据来分析结果。
在试点期间，有 45 名用户注册了 MyCOVIDKey。对他们的注册情况进行分析表明，最初的招募工作是有效的；然而，研究中期的参与者招募和参与工作效果较差。应用程序的使用与用户数量相匹配，这表明激励措施对于招募新用户注册是有用的，但并没有导致用户为了获得奖品而试图人为地增加他们的使用量。完成关键任务的时间很短，表明应用程序的主要功能可以快速使用。在 45 名用户中，有 30 名通过试点后调查提供了反馈，其中 26 名（58%）完整地完成了调查。MyCOVIDKey 应用程序的系统可用性量表评分为 70.0，表明其性能超过了可接受的可用性阈值。当单独检查输入和自我评估功能时，发现它们各自都达到了可接受的可用性阈值，但输入功能还有更大的改进空间。
在大学环境中，MyCOVIDKey 应用程序总体上被发现是一种有用的 COVID-19 接触者追踪工具。大多数用户提出了一些易于实施的改进建议，例如用原生应用程序格式替换网络应用程序框架，或者改变应用程序工作流程中扫描仪的位置。在这些更新之后，这个工具可以很容易地部署，并很容易适应全国其他地区的设置。随着 COVID-19 病例数量继续增加，而更多的企业开始重新开业，对数字接触者追踪工具的需求变得越来越明显。
