Usability guidelines for developing and evaluating web-based mental health interventions: Establishing a practical framework

Abstract

Background: Even though problems with usability constitute a major challenge to the implementation of new eHealth technology, the field web-based interventions is lacking usability guidelines for development and evaluation of web-based intervention platforms. Objective: The aim of present study is to create a set of eHealth-specific usability guidelines for the development and evaluation of web-based mental health interventions. Methods: Knowledge about usability was gathered from peripheral fields of e-learning, emotional design, and human-computer interaction in a top-down approach. This knowledge was synthesized into usability guidelines for web-based interventions, which were then case-tested on an existing web-based intervention for patients with health anxiety, using the heuristic evaluation method. Results: Nine broad guidelines were developed. The subsequent case-test of the web-based intervention showed that application of the guidelines was feasible and was able to identify several important usability issues with the intervention. Conclusions: Health professionals should be included in intervention design. Future usability assessment should focus on the different usability attributes. The relationship between usability and adherence needs further investigation.

Usability and acceptability of a cognitive training intervention (SMART) for people with multiple sclerosis (MS): A prefeasibility formative evaluation

“…Some participants found the interface to be efficient to navigate. Previous research determined navigability to be a core component in usability when developing online health interventions, for example Petersen et al (2019) stated "Interventions should be designed in a way that makes it easy for users to navigate in the platform, and that provide them with sufficient navigational aids to advance in the intervention and follow intervention instructions". Some concerns were expressed in relation to the usability factor of performance speed.…”

Web-Based Interventions for Individuals who Committed Sexual Offenses Against Children: Development, Evaluation, and Implementation

“…Research on WBIs in general psychiatry suggests that usability is important for WBIs to work as intended (Petersen et al, 2019). As people with intellectual disabilities are overrepresented among individuals who have sexually offended (Callahan et al, 2022; Cantor et al, 2005), intellectual and learning disabilities could limit the understanding of the content of a WBI and therefore its effectiveness (Knaevelsrud et al, 2016).…”

“…Four criteria for WBIs for ICSOC can be derived from these considerations. First, usability should be ensured, for example by highlighting the more important sections of the WBI and presenting information simply (Petersen et al, 2019). Second, language appropriate for the target group should be used.…”

“… Criteria derived by a Wild et al (2019). b Petersen et al (2019). c Kip, Oberschmidt, and Bierbooms (2020).…”

Defining Recommendations to Guide User Interface Design: Multimethod Approach

“…The number of level 2 recommendations aggregated under each level 1 recommendation is also uneven. Most of the level 2 recommendations that resulted from this study concern web and mobile technologies because their utilization is widespread among the population [43] and therefore more likely to have design recommendations reported in the literature [23,31,44,45]. On the other hand, emerging technologies like robotics and interaction paradigms (eg, gestures, voice, and feet) represent new challenges for researchers, and recommendations are still being formulated, resulting in a lower number of specific recommendations that are published [46][47][48][49].…”