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Usability of a Mobile App for Improving Literacy in Children With Hearing Impairment: Focus Group Study.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Children with hearing loss, even those identified early and who use hearing aids or cochlear implants, may face challenges in developing spoken language and literacy. This can lead to academic, behavioral, and social difficulties. There are apps for healthy children to improve their spoken language and literacy and apps that focus on sign language proficiency for children with hearing loss, but these apps are limited for children with hearing loss. Therefore, we have developed an app called Hear Me Read, which uses enhanced digital stories as therapy tools for speech, language, and literacy for children with hearing loss. The platform has therapist and parent/child modes that allow (1) the selection of high-quality, illustrated digital stories by a speech-language pathologist, parent, or child; (2) the modification of digital stories for a multitude of speech and language targets; and (3) the assignment of stories by a therapist to facilitate individualized speech and language goals. In addition, Hear Me Read makes the caregiver a core partner in engagement through functionality, whereby the caregiver can record video and audio of themselves to be played back by the child. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to evaluate the user experience of the Hear Me Read app through a focus group study with caregivers and their children. METHODS:We recruited 16 participants (8 children with and without hearing loss and 8 caregivers) to participate in 1-hour focus groups. Caregivers and children interacted with the app and discussed their experiences through a semistructured group interview. We employed thematic analysis methods and analyzed the data. We used feedback from the focus group to improve the elements of the app for a larger clinical trial assessing the impact of the app on outcomes. RESULTS:We identified three themes: default needs, specific needs, and family needs. Participants found the app to be esthetically pleasing and easy to use. The findings of this study helped us to identify usability attributes and to amend app functionalities to best fit user needs. Caregivers and children appreciated the enhancements, such as highlighting of parts of speech and caregiver reading of video playback, which were made possible by the digital format. Participants expressed that the app could be used to enhance family reading sessions and family interaction. CONCLUSIONS:The findings from this focus group study are promising for the use of educational apps designed specifically for those with hearing loss who are pursuing listening and spoken language as a communication outcome. Further investigation is needed with larger sample sizes to understand the clinical impact on relevant language and literacy outcomes in this population.

SUBMITTER: DeForte S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7290449 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Usability of a Mobile App for Improving Literacy in Children With Hearing Impairment: Focus Group Study.

DeForte Shelly S Sezgin Emre E Huefner Janelle J Lucius Shana S Luna John J Satyapriya Anand A AA Malhotra Prashant P

JMIR human factors 20200528 2

<h4>Background</h4>Children with hearing loss, even those identified early and who use hearing aids or cochlear implants, may face challenges in developing spoken language and literacy. This can lead to academic, behavioral, and social difficulties. There are apps for healthy children to improve their spoken language and literacy and apps that focus on sign language proficiency for children with hearing loss, but these apps are limited for children with hearing loss. Therefore, we have developed ...[more]

PMID: 32205305

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves outcomes for patients with ischemic heart disease or heart failure but is underused. New strategies to improve access to and engagement in CR are needed. There is considerable interest in technology-facilitated home CR. However, little is known about patient acceptance and use of mobile technology for CR. OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to develop a mobile app for technology-facilitated home CR and seek to determine its usability. METHODS:We recruited patients eligible for CR who had access to a mobile phone, tablet, or computer with Internet access. The mobile app includes physical activity goal setting, logs for tracking physical activity and health metrics (eg, weight, blood pressure, and mood), health education, reminders, and feedback. Study staff demonstrated the mobile app to participants in person and then observed participants completing prespecified tasks with the mobile app. Participants completed the System Usability Scale (SUS, 0-100), rated likelihood to use the mobile app (0-100), questionnaires on mobile app use, and participated in a semistructured interview. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and the Theory of Planned Behavior informed the analysis. On the basis of participant feedback, we made iterative revisions to the mobile app between users. RESULTS:We conducted usability testing in 13 participants. The first version of the mobile app was used by the first 5 participants, and revised versions were used by the final 8 participants. From the first version to revised versions, task completion success rate improved from 44% (11/25 tasks) to 78% (31/40 tasks; P=.05), SUS improved from 54 to 76 (P=.04; scale 0-100, with 100 being the best usability), and self-reported likelihood of use remained high at 76 and 87 (P=.30; scale 0-100, with 100 being the highest likelihood). In interviews, patients expressed interest in tracking health measures ("I think it'll be good to track my exercise and to see what I'm doing"), a desire for introductory training ("Initially, training with a technical person, instead of me relying on myself"), and an expectation for sharing data with providers ("It would also be helpful to share with my doctor, it just being a matter of clicking a button and sharing it with my doctor"). CONCLUSIONS:With participant feedback and iterative revisions, we significantly improved the usability of a mobile app for CR. Patient expectations for using a mobile app for CR include tracking health metrics, introductory training, and sharing data with providers. Iterative mixed-method evaluation may be useful for improving the usability of health technology.

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Project description:BackgroundDespite the increasing development of different smartphone apps in the health care domain, most of these apps lack proper evaluation. In fact, with the rapid development of smartphones and wireless communication infrastructure, many health care systems around the world are using these apps to provide health services for people without sufficient scientific efforts to design, develop, and evaluate them.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate the usability of CanSelfMan, a self-management app that provides access to reliable information to improve communication between health care providers and children with cancer and their parents/caregivers, facilitating remote monitoring and promoting medication adherence.MethodsWe performed debugging and compatibility tests in a simulated environment to identify possible errors. Then, at the end of the 3-week period of using the app, children with cancer and their parents/caregivers filled out the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) to evaluate the usability of the CanSelfMan app and their level of user satisfaction.ResultsDuring the 3 weeks of CanSelfMan use, 270 cases of symptom evaluation and 194 questions were recorded in the system by children and their parents/caregivers and answered by oncologists. After the end of the 3 weeks, 44 users completed the standard UEQ user experience questionnaire. According to the children's evaluations, attractiveness (mean 1.956, SD 0.547) and efficiency (mean 1.934, SD 0.499) achieved the best mean results compared with novelty (mean 1.711, SD 0.481). Parents/caregivers rated efficiency at a mean of 1.880 (SD 0.316) and attractiveness at a mean of 1.853 (SD 0.331). The lowest mean score was reported for novelty (mean 1.670, SD 0.225).ConclusionsIn this study, we describe the evaluation process of a self-management system to support children with cancer and their families. Based on the feedback and scores obtained from the usability evaluation, it seems that the children and their parents find CanSelfMan to be an interesting and practical idea to provide reliable and updated information on cancer and help them manage the complications of this disease.

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Dataset Information

Usability of a Mobile App for Improving Literacy in Children With Hearing Impairment: Focus Group Study.

Publications

Usability of a Mobile App for Improving Literacy in Children With Hearing Impairment: Focus Group Study.

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