Formative Usability of the Kidneytime Online Live Donor Kidney Transplant Education Tool Among Transplant Candidates

Abstract

Background Web-based education may be a powerful tool to support transplant candidates’ learning and communication about live donor kidney transplantation. Few educational interventions are web-based and have education sharing for living donor transplant as a primary goal. Methods Through user-centered design and iterative usability testing, we developed a web platform, called KidneyTIME, to support an educational intervention for adult transplant candidates. KidneyTIME delivers animated videos to improve candidate knowledge, motivation, and self-efficacy to pursue living donor transplantation and to promote outreach through video sharing. The animated-video educational content was previously produced by the researchers. We conducted a formative usability evaluation of the KidneyTIME web platform to enable users to find, view, and share the previously produced videos. A total of 30 kidney transplant candidates were involved in 4 rounds of testing at one transplant center, with amendments made after each round. Results Transplant candidates were predominantly White non-Hispanic; 47% had incomes <$30 000 and >43% had vision or motor impairment. Readability, navigation, and failure to find videos were the main usability issues identified. Substantial improvements were found in the usability of most functions after implementing certain features, such as enlarging text and buttons, enhancing contrast, and simplifying presentation. Participants reported that the intervention was user friendly and easy to navigate. Conclusion Considering feedback from a wide spectrum of users has improved the usability of KidneyTIME. A salient concern for End stage kidney disease populations is ensuring online accessibility despite vision and motor impairments.