Exploring Usability Problems of MHealth Applications Developed for Cervical Cancer: An Empirical Study

Overview

Journal SAGE Open Med

Publisher Sage Publications

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2023 Jul 13

PMID 37441192

Authors

Md Abdur Razzak

Muhammad Nazrul Islam

Tanjila Broti

Elma Shumsun Kamal

Samia Zahan

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: Nowadays, mobile health applications are developed to raise awareness and facilitate screening and treatment of cervical cancer, while a very few studies have been conducted focusing on the measurement and assurance of usability and exploring the acceptable user experience of such applications. Usability issues become a crucial concern for such cervical-cancer-related applications because users with diverse backgrounds in terms of education, information technology literacy, and geographic reasons are required to access those applications. The objective of this research is to evaluate the usability of mobile health applications developed for cervical cancer patients.

Methods: Two evaluation studies were conducted following the expert evaluation and a questionnaire-based user study. A total of four cervical-cancer-related applications that are focusing on the and theme were selected and each of the applications was evaluated by four usability experts. Then, a user study ( = 80) based on the Goal Question Metric was conducted to reveal the usability problems of four selected applications. Finally, findings of both evaluations were aggregated and analyzed.

Results: Both approaches showed that all applications suffer from several usability problems while "Cervical Cancer Guide" performs better and "Cervical Cancer Tracker" showed the least in performance from the usability perspective. Again, the Goal Question Metric performs noticeably better in assessing the learnability of the applications, while the analytical heuristic evaluation performs better in identifying the issues that cause user annoyance.

Conclusion: The methodology adopted and the usability problems revealed through this study can be well utilized by the information technology professionals or user interface designers for designing, evaluating, and developing the cervical-cancer-related applications with enhanced usability and user experience.

Citing Articles

Developing and validating a content quality evaluation tool for cancer mobile applications.

Ashkani N, Erfannia L, Rezaee R, Savareh B, Bashiri A BMC Cancer. 2024; 24(1):1494.

PMID: 39633263 PMC: 11619331. DOI: 10.1186/s12885-024-13112-w.

References

Suha S, Islam M . An extended machine learning technique for polycystic ovary syndrome detection using ovary ultrasound image. Sci Rep. 2022; 12(1):17123. PMC: 9556522. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-21724-0. View

Vergani L, Marton G, Pizzoli S, Monzani D, Mazzocco K, Pravettoni G . Training Cognitive Functions Using Mobile Apps in Breast Cancer Patients: Systematic Review. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019; 7(3):e10855. PMC: 6444278. DOI: 10.2196/10855. View

Kazemi S, Zarei F, Heidarnia A, Alhani F . Improve the cervical cancer prevention behaviors through mobile-based educational intervention based on I-CHANGE model: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2022; 23(1):805. PMC: 9509552. DOI: 10.1186/s13063-022-06744-5. View

Ruiz-Lopez T, Sen S, Jakobsen E, Trope A, Castle P, Hansen B . FightHPV: Design and Evaluation of a Mobile Game to Raise Awareness About Human Papillomavirus and Nudge People to Take Action Against Cervical Cancer. JMIR Serious Games. 2019; 7(2):e8540. PMC: 6475825. DOI: 10.2196/games.8540. View

Hu L, Horning M, Banik D, Ajenifuja O, Adepiti C, Yeates K . Deep learning-based image evaluation for cervical precancer screening with a smartphone targeting low resource settings - Engineering approach. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2020; 2020:1944-1949. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC44109.2020.9175863. View

Cohen P, Jhingran A, Oaknin A, Denny L . Cervical cancer. Lancet. 2019; 393(10167):169-182. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32470-X. View

Monkman H, Kushniruk A . A health literacy and usability heuristic evaluation of a mobile consumer health application. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2013; 192:724-8. View

Ginossar T, Shah S, West A, Bentley J, Caburnay C, Kreuter M . Content, Usability, and Utilization of Plain Language in Breast Cancer Mobile Phone Apps: A Systematic Analysis. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2017; 5(3):e20. PMC: 5368351. DOI: 10.2196/mhealth.7073. View

Yang Y, Chen H, Qazi H, Morita P . Intervention and Evaluation of Mobile Health Technologies in Management of Patients Undergoing Chronic Dialysis: Scoping Review. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2020; 8(4):e15549. PMC: 7165304. DOI: 10.2196/15549. View

10.

Kanjak J, Likitdee N, Kietpeerakool C, Temtanakitpaisan A . Evaluation of mobile health applications for cervical cancer in the digital marketplace. Obstet Gynecol Sci. 2022; 65(3):244-255. PMC: 9119733. DOI: 10.5468/ogs.22037. View

11.

Islam M, Karim M, Inan T, Islam A . Investigating usability of mobile health applications in Bangladesh. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2020; 20(1):19. PMC: 6998368. DOI: 10.1186/s12911-020-1033-3. View

12.

Lee H, Koopmeiners J, Rhee T, Raveis V, Ahluwalia J . Mobile phone text messaging intervention for cervical cancer screening: changes in knowledge and behavior pre-post intervention. J Med Internet Res. 2014; 16(8):e196. PMC: 4180333. DOI: 10.2196/jmir.3576. View

13.

Bhochhibhoya S, Dobbs P, Maness S . Interventions using mHealth strategies to improve screening rates of cervical cancer: A scoping review. Prev Med. 2020; 143:106387. DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106387. View

14.

Moodley J, Constant D, Botha M, van der Merwe F, Edwards A, Momberg M . Exploring the feasibility of using mobile phones to improve the management of clients with cervical cancer precursor lesions. BMC Womens Health. 2019; 19(1):2. PMC: 6322222. DOI: 10.1186/s12905-018-0702-1. View

15.

Ormel I, Onu C, Magalhaes M, Tang T, Hughes J, Law S . Using a Mobile App-Based Video Recommender System of Patient Narratives to Prepare Women for Breast Cancer Surgery: Development and Usability Study Informed by Qualitative Data. JMIR Form Res. 2021; 5(6):e22970. PMC: 8209533. DOI: 10.2196/22970. View

16.

Endale H, Mulugeta T, Habte T . The Socioeconomic Impact of Cervical Cancer on Patients in Ethiopia: Evidence from Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. Cancer Manag Res. 2022; 14:1615-1625. PMC: 9078746. DOI: 10.2147/CMAR.S352389. View

17.

Stocks J, Choi Y, Ibrahim S, Huchko M . Iterative Development of a Mobile Phone App to Support Community Health Volunteers During Cervical Cancer Screening in Western Kenya: Qualitative Study. JMIR Form Res. 2022; 6(2):e27501. PMC: 8914757. DOI: 10.2196/27501. View

18.

Champin D, Ramirez-Soto M, Vargas-Herrera J . Use of Smartphones for the Detection of Uterine Cervical Cancer: A Systematic Review. Cancers (Basel). 2021; 13(23). PMC: 8656777. DOI: 10.3390/cancers13236047. View

19.

Rao H, Chen J, Li M, Xiao Y, Fu J, Zeng Y . Increased intratumoral neutrophil in colorectal carcinomas correlates closely with malignant phenotype and predicts patients' adverse prognosis. PLoS One. 2012; 7(1):e30806. PMC: 3266280. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030806. View

20.

Islam M, Islam I, Munim K, Islam A . A Review on the Mobile Applications Developed for COVID-19: An Exploratory Analysis. IEEE Access. 2021; 8:145601-145610. PMC: 8545318. DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3015102. View