Department of Allied Health Professions, Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, 2 Old Hall Road, Sheffield, S9 3TU, UK.
Faculty of Health and Education, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester Brooks Building, 53 Bonsall Street, Manchester, M15 6GX, UK.
J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2023 Jul 24;20(1):95. doi: 10.1186/s12984-023-01207-7.
Digital advancement of power assisted exercise equipment will advance exercise prescription for people with stroke (PwS). This article reports on the remote usability evaluation of a co-designed graphical user interface (GUI) and denotes an example of how video-conference software can increase reach to participants in the testing of rehabilitation technologies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usability of two sequential versions of the GUI.
We adopted a mixed methods approach. Ten professional user (PU) (2M/8F) and 10 expert user (EU) participants (2M/8F) were recruited. Data collection included a usability observation, a 'think aloud' walk through, task completion, task duration and user satisfaction as indicated by the Post Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ). Identification of usability issues informed the design of version 2 which included an additional submenu. Descriptive analysis was conducted upon usability issues and number of occurrences detected on both versions of the GUI. Inferential analysis enabled comparison of task duration and PSSUQ data between the PU and EU groups.
Analysis of the 'think aloud' walkthrough data enabled identification of 22 usability issues on version 1 from a total of 100 usability occurrences. Task completion for all tasks was 100%. Eight usability issues were directly addressed in the development of version 2. Two recurrent and 24 new usability issues were detected in version 2 with a total of 86 usability occurrences. Paired two tailed T-tests on task duration data indicated a significant decrease amongst the EU group for task 1.1 on version 2 (P = 0.03). The mean PSSUQ scores for version 1 was 1.44 (EU group) and 1.63 (PU group) compared with 1.40 (EU group) and 1.41 (PU group) for version 2.
The usability evaluation enabled identification of usability issues on version 1 of the GUI which were effectively addressed on the iteration of version 2. Testing of version 2 identified usability issues within the new submenu. Application of multiple usability evaluation methods was effective in identifying and addressing usability issues in the GUI to improve the experience of PAE for PwS. The use of video-conference software to conduct synchronous, remote usability testing is an effective alternative to face to face testing methods.
助力式运动设备的数字化进步将推进针对脑卒中患者（PwS）的运动处方制定。本文报道了图形用户界面（GUI）的远程可用性评估结果，并举例说明了视频会议软件如何增加康复技术测试参与者的覆盖面。本研究的目的是评估两个连续版本 GUI 的可用性。
我们采用了混合方法。招募了 10 名专业用户（PU）（2 名男性/8 名女性）和 10 名专家用户（EU）（2 名男性/8 名女性）参与者。数据收集包括可用性观察、“出声思考”测试、任务完成情况、任务完成时间和用户满意度（由使用后系统评估问卷（PSSUQ）表示）。根据可用性问题识别结果，对版本 2 进行了设计，其中包括一个额外的子菜单。对两个版本 GUI 检测到的可用性问题和发生次数进行了描述性分析。在 PU 和 EU 组之间进行了推断性分析，以比较任务完成时间和 PSSUQ 数据。
对“出声思考”测试数据的分析，从总共 100 次可用性事件中识别出了版本 1 的 22 个可用性问题。所有任务的任务完成率为 100%。在版本 2 的开发中直接解决了 8 个可用性问题。在版本 2 中检测到 2 个反复出现的和 24 个新的可用性问题，总共发生了 86 次可用性事件。针对任务 1.1，对 EU 组的任务完成时间数据进行配对双侧 T 检验，版本 2 的结果具有显著差异（P=0.03）。版本 1 的 PSSUQ 平均得分分别为 1.44（EU 组）和 1.63（PU 组），而版本 2 的平均得分分别为 1.40（EU 组）和 1.41（PU 组）。
可用性评估确定了版本 1 GUI 的可用性问题，并在版本 2 的迭代中有效解决。版本 2 的测试确定了新子菜单中的可用性问题。应用多种可用性评估方法，有效地识别和解决了 GUI 中的可用性问题，从而改善了 PwS 对助力式运动设备的使用体验。使用视频会议软件进行同步、远程可用性测试是替代面对面测试方法的有效方法。
