Scenario 1: Preferences
Description
Our prototype demonstrates a set of versatile user preferences for communication, display and content. Many of the settings provided might be considered accessibility settings, but could certainly be useful to any user in configuring the system to their personal preferences. Therefore we chose not to create a separate accessibility settings or directly label any specific settings as “accessible”.
Advantages over Current PHR/Patient Portals
We have reviewed many PHR and patient portal systems and few provide any preferences other than email address.
Usability Test Scenario Description
Background:
Imagine that your doctor told you about a new online system. She told you the system has many features including electronic communication and reminders, access to your medical information, patient education resources and other resources. You agreed to sign up.
You are at home and you log on to the system for the first time.
Goal:
Set up the system to work best for you.
Usability Test Results
Objective Results:
| Task Completion: | 81% (3 participants failed to complete the task) |
|---|---|
| Usability Error: | 44% (7 participants encountered non-critical errors) |
| Accessibility Error: | 25% (4 participants encountered non-critical errors) |
| Time on Task: | Mean 5:35 (Minimum 1:47, Maximum 17:19) |
Subjective Results:
| Strongly disagree | Disagree | Some. disagree | Neutral | Some. agree | Agree | Strongly Agree | % Agree | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The system was easy to use | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 88% | |||
| The system was accessible | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 94% | |||
| The system provided useful features | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 88% | |||
| The system does not need any design changes | 3 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 44% | |
| Overall I am satisfied with the system | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 75% |
Participant Comments:
- The header sounds like it is three quarters of the page. It is saying too much.
- People can use operating system or assistive tech for the visual settings, but not everyone knows about that.
- This would be useful for someone who doesn't have or know about accessibility software.
- I don't need all these settings, but some people might.
- This is much more accessible than most, but the bar is low so we'll see what happens.
- I'm not sure I need to change fonts, but what the heck.
- The text was too small for me, so the font size setting is helpful.
- 711 is obsolete and needs to be changed to Videophone.
- I would like to receive text messages from my doctor.
Discussion and Recommendations:
Three participants encountered critical errors and failed to complete tasks. Participant #1 was a screen reader user and encountered difficulties throughout the entire test due to screen reader accessibility code resulting in being overwhelmed and confused with repetitive descriptions. Due to the severity of these issues, the accessibility code was modified after her experience and results with the remaining 3 screen reader user participants were improved. Participant #6 self-identified as having a cognitive disability and seemed to have difficulty in understanding and recalling scenario objectives. Participant #7 did not self-identify as having a cognitive impairment, but also had difficulty in understanding and recalling scenario objectives. As a result both of these participants could not complete this task (and almost all others) without assistance.