Optimising eHealth tools for older patients: Collaborative redesign of a hospital website

Abstract

Most hospital websites have not been developed in collaboration with patients and, therefore, rarely take into account the preferences and abilities of older patients. This study describes the systematic redesign of an existing hospital website in a co‐design process with patients and professional stakeholders (e.g. researchers, physicians, nurses, department heads, policymakers, website designers), with the aim to make it more user‐friendly for older patients with colorectal cancer ( CRC ). The redesign process consisted of three phases, where (I) both existing content and design were evaluated among CRC patients; (II) a prototype website was developed based on these insights; which (III) was evaluated again before making final adjustments. Mixed research methods were used for the redesign process. Specifically, insights from existing literature, outcomes from qualitative and quantitative empirical studies conducted by our team, and expert knowledge from relevant stakeholders, were collected and discussed in multidisciplinary consensus meetings, and served as input for the redesigned website. While the existing website was evaluated poorly, the qualitative evaluation of the prototype website in phase 3 showed that the newly redesigned website was usable for older CRC patients. A practical roadmap on how to collaboratively redesign and optimise existing eH ealth tools to make them suitable for and operational in clinical settings is provided.

How and how well have older people been engaged in healthcare intervention design, development or delivery using co‐methodologies: A scoping review with narrative summary

“…Around two thirds of included studies were researcher led and five did not explicitly state leadership (Boerema et al, 2016;Clarke et al, 2009;Holliday et al, 2015;Morrison & Dearden, 2013;Wang-Letzkus et al, 2012). Exceptions included studies that claimed to be 'stakeholder-led' (Bond et al, 2015) or guided and advised by a committee or project team (Bone et al, 2013;James, et al, 2015;Nguyen et al, 2019;Ralston et al, 2017). Three teams adopted a model of shared control (Hwang et al, 2015;Sukwatjanee et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2014).…”

Health literacy and its impact on cancer outcomes

“…In this issue of the journal, Nguyen et al (2019) report on a hospital website and it is potential to provide eHealth support for patients with colorectal cancer. They provide some useful suggestions on how to collaboratively redesign and optimise existing eHealth tools-with the aim of making them more user-friendly in clinical environments.…”

Tailored Web-Based Information for Younger and Older Patients with Cancer: Randomized Controlled Trial of a Preparatory Educational Intervention on Patient Outcomes

“…Although it can be overwhelming to receive information related to the disease [25], patients have a high need for information during this uncertain phase [26]. Providing patients with mode-tailored information might enable them to absorb the information in a dosed manner (eg, by reading the text first and saving a video for later) [27]. As mode-tailored information is more accessible to patients, it is expected to be evaluated and processed better too [17,18].…”