Dos Santos Fabiana Cristina, Brin Maeve, Tanner Mary R, Galindo Carla A, Schnall Rebecca
School of Nursing, Columbia University, 560 W 168th St, New York, NY, 10032, United States, 1 212-305-5756.
Division of HIV Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States.
JMIR Hum Factors. 2025 Feb 28;12:e59780. doi: 10.2196/59780.
Mobile health (mHealth) apps provide easy and quick access for end users to monitor their health-related activities. Features such as medication reminders help end users adhere to their medication schedules and automatically record these actions, thereby helping manage their overall health. Due to insufficient mHealth tools tailored for HIV preventive care in young men who have sex with men (MSM), our study evaluated the usability of the mChoice app, a tool designed to enhance preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) adherence and promote sexual health (eg, encouraging the use of condoms and being aware of the partner's HIV status and PrEP use).
This study aimed to apply systematic usability evaluations to test the mChoice app and to refine the visualizations to better capture and display patient-reported health information.
Usability testing involved heuristic evaluations conducted with 5 experts in informatics and user testing with 20 young MSM who were taking or were eligible to take PrEP.
End users demonstrated satisfaction with the appearance of the mChoice app, reporting that the app has an intuitive interface to track PrEP adherence. However, participants highlighted areas needing improvement, including chart titles and the inclusion of "undo" and "edit" buttons to improve user control when recording PrEP use.
Usability evaluations involving heuristic experts and end users provided valuable insights into the mChoice app's design. Areas for improvement were identified, such as enhancing chart readability and providing additional user controls. These findings will guide iterative refinements, ensuring that future versions of the app better address the needs of its target audience and effectively support HIV prevention.
移动健康（mHealth）应用程序为终端用户提供了便捷快速的方式来监测与健康相关的活动。诸如用药提醒等功能可帮助终端用户遵守用药计划并自动记录这些行为，从而有助于管理他们的整体健康状况。由于针对男男性行为者（MSM）的HIV预防护理量身定制的移动健康工具不足，我们的研究评估了mChoice应用程序的可用性，该工具旨在提高暴露前预防（PrEP）的依从性并促进性健康（例如，鼓励使用避孕套并了解性伴侣的HIV状况和PrEP使用情况）。
本研究旨在应用系统的可用性评估来测试mChoice应用程序，并优化可视化效果，以更好地获取和展示患者报告的健康信息。
可用性测试包括与5位信息学专家进行的启发式评估以及对20名正在服用或有资格服用PrEP的年轻男男性行为者进行的用户测试。
终端用户对mChoice应用程序的外观表示满意，称该应用程序具有直观的界面来跟踪PrEP的依从性。然而，参与者强调了需要改进的方面，包括图表标题以及添加“撤销”和“编辑”按钮，以在记录PrEP使用情况时增强用户控制。
涉及启发式专家和终端用户的可用性评估为mChoice应用程序的设计提供了有价值的见解。确定了需要改进的方面，例如提高图表的可读性并提供更多用户控制功能。这些发现将指导迭代改进，确保该应用程序的未来版本能更好地满足其目标受众的需求，并有效地支持HIV预防工作。
