Somerville Mari, Wozney Lori, Gallant Allyson, Curran Janet A
IWK Health, Halifax, NS, Canada.
School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
JMIR Res Protoc. 2025 Apr 14;14:e64350. doi: 10.2196/64350.
Usability tests provide important insight into user preferences, functional issues, and differences between target groups for health interventions and products. However, there is limited guidance on how to adapt the usability testing approach for a youth audience, especially for digital health interventions.
This protocol paper outlines a novel approach for conducting usability tests with a diverse audience of youth, parents, and clinicians in the development of 2 digital health tools for the pediatric emergency department (ED) setting.
This paper outlines a protocol for usability testing as part of a broader study aimed at co-designing ED discharge communication tools with youth, parents, and clinicians. The broader study involved co-designing 2 digital tools: one for asthma and one for concussions. A multimethods approach to usability testing was used to assess the functionality of these tools through 2 rounds of testing. A mix of youth, parents, and ED clinicians were invited to participate in each round of usability testing. Participants were asked to provide feedback on the tools through quantitative surveys and open-ended qualitative questions. The usability testing approach was adapted to suit each target group, such as including a youth in the data collection process, to enhance the quality of the data. The severity of usability problems was analyzed following the first round of testing, and each tool was refined based on this feedback. The second round of usability tests involved collecting both qualitative and quantitative feedback on the revised tools.
All usability data have been collected and are being analyzed. Outcomes will be disseminated through a subsequent publication. Results will include demographic characteristics from each user group from both rounds of testing, severity of usability scores, qualitative and quantitative feedback, and differences in test outcomes between each target group.
This paper provides novel guidance for conducting usability tests with youth participants when designing digital health tools. By using a comprehensive co-design and usability testing approach, we anticipate that final tools will be highly relevant to the end users and will lead to better uptake and patient outcomes when pilot-tested in future studies. The outlined approach may be adapted to different health care contexts for other youth participants. Further research should continue to explore ways to design usability tests that are suitable for youth audiences, as there is still a significant gap in the literature around this topic.
INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/64350.
可用性测试能为了解用户偏好、功能问题以及健康干预措施和产品目标群体之间的差异提供重要见解。然而，关于如何针对青少年受众调整可用性测试方法，尤其是针对数字健康干预措施，相关指导有限。
本方案文件概述了一种新颖的方法，用于在为儿科急诊科（ED）开发两款数字健康工具时，对不同的青少年、家长和临床医生受众进行可用性测试。
本文概述了作为一项更广泛研究一部分的可用性测试方案，该研究旨在与青少年、家长和临床医生共同设计急诊科出院沟通工具。更广泛的研究涉及共同设计两款数字工具：一款用于哮喘，一款用于脑震荡。采用多方法可用性测试方法，通过两轮测试评估这些工具的功能。邀请了青少年、家长和急诊科临床医生的混合群体参与每一轮可用性测试。要求参与者通过定量调查和开放式定性问题对工具提供反馈。可用性测试方法进行了调整以适应每个目标群体，例如在数据收集过程中纳入一名青少年，以提高数据质量。在第一轮测试后分析可用性问题的严重程度，并根据此反馈对每个工具进行改进。第二轮可用性测试涉及收集对修订后工具的定性和定量反馈。
所有可用性数据均已收集并正在进行分析。结果将通过后续出版物进行传播。结果将包括两轮测试中每个用户群体的人口统计学特征、可用性得分的严重程度、定性和定量反馈以及每个目标群体之间测试结果的差异。
本文为设计数字健康工具时与青少年参与者进行可用性测试提供了新颖的指导。通过使用全面的共同设计和可用性测试方法，我们预计最终工具将与最终用户高度相关，并在未来研究中进行试点测试时将带来更好的采用率和患者结果。所概述的方法可适用于针对其他青少年参与者的不同医疗保健环境。应继续进行进一步研究，探索设计适合青少年受众的可用性测试的方法，因为围绕该主题的文献仍存在重大差距。
国际注册报告标识符（IRRID）：DERR1-10.2196/64350。
