Usability and User Experience Study with Children for a Mobile Health App (Preprint)

Abstract

Dentistry interventions cause common anxiety and fear problems in children, and according to scientific evidence, this causes a decrease in their quality of life. Therapies mediated by information technology-based tools have been shown to positively influence children’s mood based on distraction as well as relaxing activities, but there is no evidence of their use to reduce dental anxiety in children (6-11 years).

A mHealth solution was developed to reduce dental anxiety using a children-centered design methodology. The objective of this study was to answer the following research question: Does our new children-centered co-design methodology contribute to achieve a usable mobile-based product with highly scored user experience? Therefore, this study tested the usability and user experience of that App prototype with children (6-11 years).

Usage Centered Design methodology by Constantine and Lockwood was used to design the App. Our own co-design methodology was used to get the children-adapted content and functionality for the App. Rapid Application Development was used for developing phase. Structured interviews were used to test usability and user experience, in compliance with the ISO 9241-11 standard, using a children-adapted questionnaire and the 7-point rating scale SEQ (Single Easy Question). SFP-R (Smiley Faces Program - Revised) questionnaire was used to assess the level of dental anxiety of participants. The study was done in a population of 40 children (20 boys and 20 girls) between the ages of 6 and 11.

The resulting product is analyzed in detail from the user-centered design perspective (usability and user experience) on a total of 40 children (20 girls and 20 boys) between the ages of 6 and 11. Our findings confirm that the App is usable and provides an excellent user experience, and there are no significant differences between girls and boys subgroups.

Our children-adapted methodology contributes to achieve usable mobile-based products for children with a very high scored user experience.