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International audience; Designing useful emerging technologies (e.g., Virtual Reality) needs that multidisciplinary teams composed of engineers, graphic designers and ergonomists. These designers with heterogeneous and various backgrounds have to dialog together to satisfy users’ needs in the software design. This depends on their representations and viewpoints. This paper explores how the usefulness and needs construction (phases, methods, tools and stakeholders) are currently considered in design literature and by different designers’ profiles through their viewpoints. Semi-structured interviews were performed with 10 designers and collected verbal data were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Results suggest that 1) viewpoints are often specific to a designer profile because of specialized literatures, profession and background; 2) some viewpoints are common to several designers’ profiles probably because of experiences and their former integrations in multidisciplinary projects. These findings allow us to advocate some recommendations to project leaders and to suggest a scientific perspective for future study on intra-group variability.

BACKGROUND E-health literacy is emerging as a crucial concept for promoting patient self-management in an overloaded hospital system. However, to our knowledge, no tool currently exists to measure the level of e-health literacy of French-speaking people. OBJECTIVE We propose a translation in French of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) and a validation of this French version (F-eHEALS). METHODS The validation of the F-eHEALS scale followed the 5 steps of the transcultural validation method: (1) a double reverse translation, (2) a validation by a committee of experts (n = 4), (3) a pre-test in order to check the clarity of the items (n = 22), (4) the administration of the scale in French via an online quantitative study combined with two other questionnaires (HLS-EU-16, PAM-13) (n = 328), and finally (5) a test-retest (n = 78) in order to check the temporal stability of the measurements obtained from the scale. RESULTS The results obtained for the measurement of factor structure, internal consistency and temporal stability prove the validity and fidelity of the proposed scale. The factor analysis with Varimax Rotation used to validate the construct showed a two-factor scale. The effect of the construct was analysed using three hypotheses related to the theory. The F-eHEALS score was correlated with the HLS-EU-Q16 score (r = 0.34, P < .001) and the PAM-13 score (r = 0.31, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS The French version of the e-HEALS is in line with the original version. It presents adequate levels of validity and fidelity.

Background: Currently, usability assessments of home connected medical devices do not systematically take into account learnability metrics. In case of the Smart Angel device—designed for monitorin...

Home medical devices are increasingly proving their usefulness to the general public, particularly in medical deserts such as rural areas and also in the diagnosis of hypertension (e.g., telemedicine practice requesting self-measurement of blood pressure), nevertheless, this product is not always well received by the population. The objective of this study is to analyze the acceptance of a connected blood pressure monitor in order to understand the factors that will impact its integration in the activity of its appropriation. Twenty patients living in rural areas awaiting diagnosis of hypertension responded to the UTAUT questionnaire after performing self-monitoring of blood pressure for 3 consecutive days. Our results suggest that the intentions of use are related to the 3 main dimensions of the UTAUT, i.e. expected performance (or perceived usefulness), effort expectancy (or perceived ease-of-use), social influence. Effort Expectancy is also strongly correlated to the attitude toward the device. Nevertheless, age, gender, technophilia, self-efficacy and anxiety are not correlated with usage intentions. These results suggest that the intention to use the blood pressure monitor that may impact actual use is determined more by its usefulness (functions, etc.) and ease of use than by socio-demographic characteristics. This is particularly encouraging insofar as these medical devices are a priori accepted by a population with variable characteristics (age, etc.) providing that they are properly designed to be perceived as useful and usable.

BACKGROUND The Smart Angel home medical device allows ambulatory surgery patients to monitor their own health by taking their blood pressure and oxygen levels and answering a health questionnaire from home. Currently, this device is a prototype in the design phase, and no usability evaluation has been performed. This preventive device must be usable by patients with different profiles; however, it is important to select patients carefully to ensure their safety when using the device. As such, it would be interesting to know how to select or exclude patients. However, the links between user characteristics and the usability of this home medical device remain unclear. OBJECTIVE This study aims to better understand the links between certain characteristics of potential patients (ie, age, education, technophilia, and health literacy) and the usability (ie, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction) of Smart Angel, as defined by the ISO 9241-11. METHODS We conducted an experimental study involving 36 participants investigating the effects of 4 patient characteristics (ie, age, education, technophilia, and health literacy) on usability, measured in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. A mixed methods approach (subjective vs objective) using a variety of standard instruments was adopted (direct observation, video analysis, and questionnaires). First, to help participants project themselves into the real use of the Smart Angel device, they watched a scenario in a video. Second, the participants completed a set of questionnaires to show the extent of their health literacy level (Newest Vital Sign [NVS] and the Health Literacy Survey [HLS]) and then operated Smart Angel devices. Efficiency (ie, handling time) and effectiveness (ie, number of handling errors) measures were collected by video analysis. Satisfaction measures were collected by a questionnaire (System Usability Scale [SUS]). The qualitative observational data were coded using inductive analysis by 2 independent researchers specialized in cognitive psychology and cognitive ergonomics. RESULTS The results show a moderate and positive correlation between age and effectiveness (r=0.359; P=.03) and efficiency (r=0.357; P=.03). There is strong correlation between health literacy scored by the NVS and effectiveness (r=0.417; P=.01), efficiency (r=-0.38; P=.02), and satisfaction (r=0.45; P=.006). However, there is a weak correlation between technophilia and usability and no relationship between education level and usability. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that literacy level and age are 2 important factors to consider when selecting future users of the Smart Angel device to ensure patient safety. This study also serves as an example promoting mixed methodologies in assessments of medical device usability that cannot be performed under real-world conditions.

The Smart Angel connected medical device allows ambulatory surgery patients to monitor their health by taking their own blood pressure and oxygen levels and by answering a health questionnaire from home. This preventive device must necessarily be "usable" by patients with different profiles. The objective of this article is, therefore, to better understand the links between certain characteristics of potential patients and usability. We conducted an experimental study involving thirty-six participants, investigating the effects of four patient characteristics (i.e. age, education, technophilia and health literacy) on usability measured in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. The results show a moderate correlation between age, health literacy and usability. However, there is a weak correlation between technophilia and usability and no relationship between the level of education and usability. This study provides theoretical insights into the effects of user characteristics by means of personas in usability (ISO 9241-11).

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with an infodemic which impacts on vaccination perceptions and intentions. E-health literacy seems to be the key to searching health information on the web. Age and income level impact vaccine hesitancy and resistance. It is important to know more about the population who are hesitant to get vaccinated in order to develop appropriate and accessible information. We focused on four factors that impact vaccination perceptions and intentions: socio-demographic characteristics (age and education level), e-health literacy and sources of information about COVID-19. An anonymous online survey was completed by 368 participants, who reported their age, level of education, F-eHEALS (the level of e-health literacy), preferred sources of COVID-19 information, and their vaccination perceptions and intentions (vaccine score). The vaccine score is measured by a combination of two preview questionnaires adapted to COVID-19. We first assessed our questionnaire construct on intentions and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccination. We obtained a unidimensional scale that we correlated with other factors and related to clusters (k-means). The results then showed that age, education level, and sources of COVID-19 information (radio, internet and “no channel”) impact vaccination perceptions and intentions. E-health literacy appears to be a co-variant without direct link with vaccination perceptions and intentions but linked to age and sources of COVID-19 information. This study shows how age, education level, sources of COVID-19 information and e-health literacy can impact COVID-19 vaccination perceptions and intentions.

BACKGROUND Studies on the usability of health care devices are becoming more common, although usability standards are not necessarily specified and followed. Yet, there is little knowledge about the impact of the context of use on the usability outcome. It is specified in the usability standard (ISO 9241-11, 2018) of a device that it may be affected by its context of use and especially by the characteristics of its users. Among these, prior health knowledge (ie, knowledge about human body functioning) is crucial. However, no study has shown that prior health knowledge influences the usability of medical devices. OBJECTIVE Our study aimed to fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between the usability of two home medical devices (soon to be used in the context of ambulatory surgery) and prior health knowledge through an experimental approach. METHODS For assessing the usability of two home medical devices (blood pressure monitor and pulse oximeter), user tests were conducted among 149 students. A mixed-methods approach (subjective vs objective) using a variety of standard instruments was adopted (direct observation, video analysis, and questionnaires). Participants completed a questionnaire to show the extent of their previous health knowledge and then operated both devices randomly. Efficiency (ie, handling time) and effectiveness (ie, number of handling errors) measures were collected by video analysis. Satisfaction measures were collected by a questionnaire (system usability scale [SUS]). The qualitative observational data were coded using inductive analysis by two independent researchers specialized in cognitive psychology and cognitive ergonomics. Correlational analyses and clusters were performed to test how usability relates to sociodemographic characteristics and prior health knowledge. RESULTS The results indicated a lack of usability for both devices. Regarding the blood pressure monitor (137 participants), users made approximately 0.77 errors (SD 1.49), and the mean SUS score was 72.4 (SD 21.07), which is considered “satisfactory.” The pulse oximeter (147 participants) appeared easier to use, but participants made more errors (mean 0.99, SD 0.92), and the mean SUS score was 71.52 (SD 17.29), which is considered “satisfactory.” The results showed a low negative and significant correlation only between the effectiveness of the two devices and previous knowledge (blood pressure monitor: r=−0.191, P=.03; pulse oximeter: r=−0.263, P=.001). More subtly, we experimentally identified the existence of a threshold level (χ²2,146=10.9, P=.004) for health knowledge to correctly use the pulse oximeter, but this was missing for the blood pressure monitor. CONCLUSIONS This study has the following two contributions: (1) a theoretical interest highlighting the importance of user characteristics including prior health knowledge on usability outcomes and (2) an applied interest to provide recommendations to designers and medical staff.

Background The Smart Angel home medical device allows ambulatory surgery patients to monitor their own health by taking their blood pressure and oxygen levels and answering a health questionnaire from home. Currently, this device is a prototype in the design phase, and no usability evaluation has been performed. This preventive device must be usable by patients with different profiles; however, it is important to select patients carefully to ensure their safety when using the device. As such, it would be interesting to know how to select or exclude patients. However, the links between user characteristics and the usability of this home medical device remain unclear. Objective This study aims to better understand the links between certain characteristics of potential patients (ie, age, education, technophilia, and health literacy) and the usability (ie, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction) of Smart Angel, as defined by the ISO 9241-11. Methods We conducted an experimental study involving 36 participants investigating the effects of 4 patient characteristics (ie, age, education, technophilia, and health literacy) on usability, measured in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. A mixed methods approach (subjective vs objective) using a variety of standard instruments was adopted (direct observation, video analysis, and questionnaires). First, to help participants project themselves into the real use of the Smart Angel device, they watched a scenario in a video. Second, the participants completed a set of questionnaires to show the extent of their health literacy level (Newest Vital Sign [NVS] and the Health Literacy Survey [HLS]) and then operated Smart Angel devices. Efficiency (ie, handling time) and effectiveness (ie, number of handling errors) measures were collected by video analysis. Satisfaction measures were collected by a questionnaire (System Usability Scale [SUS]). The qualitative observational data were coded using inductive analysis by 2 independent researchers specialized in cognitive psychology and cognitive ergonomics. Results The results show a moderate and positive correlation between age and effectiveness (r=0.359; P=.03) and efficiency (r=0.357; P=.03). There is strong correlation between health literacy scored by the NVS and effectiveness (r=0.417; P=.01), efficiency (r=-0.38; P=.02), and satisfaction (r=0.45; P=.006). However, there is a weak correlation between technophilia and usability and no relationship between education level and usability. Conclusions Our results show that literacy level and age are 2 important factors to consider when selecting future users of the Smart Angel device to ensure patient safety. This study also serves as an example promoting mixed methodologies in assessments of medical device usability that cannot be performed under real-world conditions.

20th Congress of the International-Ergonomics-Association (IEA), Florence, ITALY, AUG 26-30, 2018; International audience; EHealth appears to be both an economic solution and a way to overcome the increase in health needs due to the ageing of the population and the increase of diseases. The presented project is aimed at developing individualized monitoring of patients who have undergone surgery and have been supported by a medical information system and connected devices. These connected systems have many benefits for healthcare system, but they also have disadvantages, relating to the complexity of their use. Their evaluation must be done in real work situations with health professionals and patients with different profiles (age, needs, skills, literacy, pathology, and expert/novice in technologies.). The aim of this work is to propose an integrative theoretical and methodological framework for a standardized evaluation of usability (including efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction and understanding) in e-health in a user-centered design context. To do this, below is presented a state-of-the-art on usability evaluation. Finally, this work presents insights on how ergonomics and cognitive psychology approaches can contribute to greater understanding and the use of these devices in healthcare (patients, caregivers, family careers).