Evaluating the Usability of an mHealth App for Empowering Cancer Survivors With Disabilities: Heuristic Evaluation and Usability Testing.

BACKGROUND: More than 18 million cancer survivors are living in the United States. The effects of cancer and its treatments can have cognitive, psychological, physical, and social consequences that many survivors find incredibly disabling. Posttreatment support is often unavailable or underused, especially for survivors living with disabilities. This leaves them to deal with new obstacles and struggles on their own, oftentimes feeling lost during this transition. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions have been shown to effectively aid cancer survivors in dealing with many of the aftereffects of cancer and its treatments; these interventions hold immense potential for survivors living with disabilities. We developed a prototype for WeCanManage, an mHealth-delivered self-management intervention to empower cancer survivors living with disabilities through problem-solving, mindfulness, and self-advocacy training. OBJECTIVE: Our study conducted a heuristic evaluation of the WeCanManage high-fidelity prototype and assessed its usability among cancer survivors with known disabilities. METHODS: We evaluated the prototype using Nielsen's 10 principles of heuristic evaluation with 22 human-computer interaction university students. On the basis of the heuristic evaluation findings, we modified the prototype and conducted usability testing on 10 cancer survivors with a variety of known disabilities, examining effectiveness, efficiency, usability, and satisfaction, including a completion of the modified System Usability Scale (SUS). RESULTS: The findings from the heuristic evaluation were mostly favorable, highlighting the need for a help guide, addressing accessibility concerns, and enhancing the navigation experience. After usability testing, the average SUS score was 81, indicating a good-excellent design. The participants in the usability testing sample expressed positive reactions toward the app's design, educational content and videos, and the available means of connecting with others. They identified areas for improvement, such as improving accessibility, simplifying navigation within the community forums, and providing a more convenient method to access the help guide. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, usability testing showed positive results for the design of WeCanManage. The course content and features helped participants feel heard, understood, and less alone.

Developing an mHealth App for Empowering Cancer Survivors With Disabilities: Co-design Study.

BACKGROUND: The transition from active treatment to long-term cancer survivorship leaves the needs of many cancer survivors unaddressed as they struggle with physical, cognitive, psychological, and social consequences of cancer and its treatment. The lack of guidance after treatment has forced cancer survivors to manage long-term effects on their own, which has an impact on their overall health, quality of life, and social participation. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions can be used to promote self-management and evidence-informed education. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to design an mHealth app for cancer survivors with disabilities that will offer interventions to improve their quality of life and increase their self-efficacy to manage cancer as a chronic condition. METHODS: We organized 3 co-design workshops with cancer survivors (n=5). These workshops included persona development based on data from 25 interviews with cancer survivors with disabilities; prototype ideation, where we sketched ideas for the prototype; and prototype development, where participants critiqued, and suggested improvements for, the wireframes. RESULTS: These workshops helped us to define the challenges that cancer survivors with disabilities face as well as important considerations when designing an mHealth app for cancer survivors with disabilities, such as the need for including flexibility, engagement, socialization, and a minimalistic design. We also outline guidelines for other researchers to follow when planning their own co-design workshops, which include allowing more time for discussion among participants, having small participant groups, keeping workshops engaging and inclusive, and letting participants dream big. CONCLUSIONS: Using a co-design process aided us in developing a prototype of an mHealth app for cancer survivors with disabilities as well as a list of guidelines that other researchers can use to develop their own co-design workshops and design their app. Furthermore, working together with cancer survivors ensured that the design team had a deeper sense of empathy toward the target users and kept the focus on our ultimate goal: creating something that cancer survivors would want to use and benefit from. Future work will include usability testing of a high-fidelity prototype based on the results of these workshops.