User-interaction in patient terminals

As mobile phones and computers have become more common there is increasing interest in using these devices for providing health related services.

Background

A major challenge in developing these services is making them intuitive and simple to use. This can be especially challenging when designing for certain groups with reduced cognitive and/or physical abilities and when trying to motivate users to perform actions that are not directly beneficial to them.

Goals

Research on user-interaction design for mobile patient terminals used for medical and self-help applications.

Research

• Design of disease related feedback on patient terminals using context-awareness.
• Interaction modes for mobile patient terminals including evaluation and testing of relevant user-interaction methods on mobile platforms for the context, e.g. text, graphic, audio, video, tactile, movement
• Investigate uses of archetypes, personas, scenario or other methods for descriptions and simulations of use-cases
• Developing of guidelines for design of user-interfaces for chronically ill and elderly
• Implementing and tests of guidelines / frameworks
• User testing in labs and real environments

Method

By combining theories from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) with methods for user involvement in design we want to establish a foundation of knowledge on designs of patient terminals for medical and self-help applications. There is a need for an experience base to identify good design guidelines. Likewise, it is a need for more research within usability testing methods for achieving sound eHealth applications. The candidate will thus focus on HCI related methods applied to mobile/wearable patient-centric tools.

Project manager

Gunnar Hartvigsen, UiT

Project members from the partners

• 1 PhD candidate, funded from NST: Naoe Tatara
• Supervisor: Gunnar Hartvigsen

Researchers

Ragnhild Varmedal, NST
Eirik Årsand, NST
Per Hasvold, NST
Jeremiah Scholl, NST

Project start/ stop

June 2007 – June 2011

Contribution to health care

The groups of people with chronic diseases, lifestyle diseases and elderly are rapidly increasing. In order to give these groups good self-help services and usable self-help tools, more research on user-interaction issues are required.

Contribution to new industry

Both industry that produces health applications and services, and industry that focuses on mobile/wearable terminals, may benefit from this research.

Project manager

Gunnar Hartvigsen, e-mail: gunnar.hartvigsen@telemed.no, tel.: +47 906 57 785.

E-mail this

Print this