Usability Testing of an Interactive Communication Tool to Help Children Express Their Cancer Symptoms

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 320-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Argerie Tsimicalis ◽  
Janet Rennick ◽  
Jennifer Stinson ◽  
Sylvie Le May ◽  
Julie Louli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computer Software ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Interactive Communication ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Improvement Method ◽  
Interactive Computer Software ◽  
Purposive Sample

Objective: Sisom is an interactive computer software program that allows children to rate the severity of their cancer symptoms. The study objectives were to describe the usability of Sisom in terms of ease of use, usefulness, and aesthetics and to offer suggestions for improvement. Method: A multisite, descriptive study was conducted to describe the usability of Sisom. A purposive sample of children, ages 6 to 12 years, being treated for cancer was recruited. English- and French-speaking children completed the eight tasks in Sisom recorded using Morae software and provided input via an audiotaped interview. Data were downloaded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed descriptively. Results: Thirty-four children with varying cancers participated. The majority of children liked Sisom and found Sisom easy to use, found it to be helpful in expressing their symptoms, and were satisfied with the aesthetics. Some children provided suggestions for improvement to optimize Sisom use in Canada. Conclusions: Children’s positive responses and desire to use Sisom again suggest that future research should be directed toward implementing and evaluating its effectiveness in a variety of settings.

Linguistic Validation of an Interactive Communication Tool to Help French-Speaking Children Express Their Cancer Symptoms

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Argerie Tsimicalis ◽  
Sylvie Le May ◽  
Jennifer Stinson ◽  
Janet Rennick ◽  
Marie-France Vachon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Parental Engagement ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Interactive Communication ◽  
Linguistic Validation ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
Forward Translation ◽  
French Speaking

Sisom is an interactive tool designed to help children communicate their cancer symptoms. Important design issues relevant to other cancer populations remain unexplored. This single-site, descriptive, qualitative study was conducted to linguistically validate Sisom with a group of French-speaking children with cancer, their parents, and health care professionals. The linguistic validation process included 6 steps: (1) forward translation, (2) backward translation, (3) patient testing, (4) production of a Sisom French version, (5) patient testing this version, and (6) production of the final Sisom French prototype. Five health care professionals and 10 children and their parents participated in the study. Health care professionals oversaw the translation process providing clinically meaningful suggestions. Two rounds of patient testing, which included parental participation, resulted in the following themes: (1) comprehension, (2) suggestions for improving the translations, (3) usability, (4) parental engagement, and (5) overall impression. Overall, Sisom was well received by participants who were forthcoming with input and suggestions for improving the French translations. Our proposed methodology may be replicated for the linguistic validation of other e-health tools.

scholarly journals Perception of Instructor Presence and Its Effects on Learning Experience in Online Classes

10.28945/4611 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 475-488
Author(s):  
Chongwoo Park ◽  
Dong-gook Kim
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Interactive Communication ◽  
Instructor Presence

Aim/Purpose: One of the most critical challenges to the student learning experience in online classes would be providing interactions between students and instructors as effective as in face-to-face learning. This study introduces perceived instructor presence as a way to promote such interactions and investigates its effects on student learning experience in online learning. Background: Drawing upon theories of constructivism and social presence, this study proposes a research model to explore the causal relationships from the interactivity of a communication tool to the perception of instructor presence and to student learning experiences such as engagement and satisfaction. Methodology: The survey method was used to collect data from online business classes where an interactive communication tool was required to use for class communication and collaboration. Partial Least Squares analysis was used as the primary data analysis tool. Contribution: This study introduces perceived instructor presence in the online learning context and empirically tests its effects on the online learning experience. This study also contributes to the online learning literature by confirming the constructivist’s point of view on learning that interactions lead to better learning experiences, in the online learning environment. Findings: The study results show that the use of an interactive communication tool in online learning fosters strong student-instructor interactions and promotes students’ perceptions of instructor presence, which eventually enhances student engagement and satisfaction in online classes. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study recommends practitioners (e.g., teachers and professors) to use more interactive communication tools such as Microsoft Teams and Slack to promote the instructor presence in their online classes, which ultimately increase student engagement and satisfaction. Practitioners are also recommended to develop and use any other teaching methods or activities that can increase perceived instructor presence, which has a direct impact on student engagement in online learning. Recommendation for Researchers: While the fellow researchers can take one of the future research directions in this paper, it is recommended to consider more fundamental approaches to the study of online learning. For example, the concept of presence is a radical difference when courses are moved from face-to-face to online learning. Future research could investigate how various types of presence can play differently in online learning. Impact on Society: Better learning experiences are likely to have a significant impact on society’s well-being, and the findings of this study suggest how student learning experiences can be improved in online classes. Furthermore, this is particularly useful when many face-to-face classes were forced to switch to online classes abruptly during the COVID-19 pandemic as many students, parents, and educators were concerned with online learning experiences. Future Research: A replication study with different communication tools in various courses would be good future research to support the generalizability of the findings. Another interesting future research is to employ other types of dependent variables, such as tool adoption and academic performance. It would be worth investigating how different types of learning experiences can be associated with various learning tools. As this study finds that an interactive communication tool is associated with student engagement, gamification can be associated with student enjoyment in online learning.

scholarly journals An explanatory study of the use of e-mail investor communication by South African listed companies

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roelof Baard ◽  
George Nel
Keyword(s):  
Listed Companies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Contact Method ◽  
Interactive Communication ◽  
Handling Performance ◽  
Corporate Websites ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Cost ◽  
E Mail

Background: Although research shows that almost all listed companies have corporate websites with dedicated investor relations (IR) sections that enable companies to ‘push’ information to investors, it was argued that such an asymmetrical approach to communication is insufficient for companies wishing to exercise good IR. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of the Internet to act as a mechanism to achieve more interactive communication between companies and investors.Objectives: The objectives of the study were to measure the responsiveness, timeliness and relevance of companies’ responses to e-mail requests, and to test for the determinants (size, market-to-book ratio, profitability, leverage and liquidity) thereof.Method: The mystery investor approach and a content analysis were used to study the e-mail handling performance of companies. The associations between company-specific characteristics were statistically tested.Results: It was found that the e-mail handling performance of companies in this study was poor compared with previous studies. Significant relationships between company size and responsiveness and relevance, and between market-to-book ratio and relevance were reported, as well as between the contact method used to request information and relevance and the use of social media and timeliness.Conclusion: Specific areas where companies could improve their investor communications were identified. The need for further research was discussed to explain some of the relationships found, as well as those not found, in contrast to what was expected. Future research is warranted to examine the relationship between the e-mail handling performance of companies and information asymmetry and the cost of equity of companies.

Online Retail Service Quality: Scale Development and Validation

2021 ◽  
pp. 097226292110112
Author(s):  
Biranchi Narayan Swar ◽  
Rajesh Panda
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Measurement Scale ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Online Retail ◽  
Online Retailers ◽  
Retail Service ◽  
Retail Service Quality

The growth of online retailing has created an opportunity to create a scale specifically for online retail services. At the same time, the increasing rate of internet penetration in India coupled with electronic banking and wallets has formed new market place for many online retailers. In this context, to gain competitive advantage, the online retailers should provide better service quality. Thus, the present research tries to know the various constructs of retail service quality (RSQ) in online format and develop a measurement scale. The study has borrowed the constructs from ‘Retail Service Quality’ (RSQ) and ‘Technology Acceptance Model’ (TAM). For this purpose, we collected data from 600 respondents. The scale has been confirmed and validated by using CFA. The study confirmed that online RSQ (ORSQ) scale consists of four constructs: ‘Ease of Use’, ‘Problem Solving’, ‘Policy’ and ‘Reliability’ with 18 variables. The article has concluded and validated a scale for ORSQ which can help the online retailers to design their service offering. The implications of the ORSQ scale for practitioners, as well as for future research, are discussed in this article.

scholarly journals Multi-Period Portfolio Optimization with Investor Views under Regime Switching

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Razvan Oprisor ◽  
Roy Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Regime Switching ◽  
Portfolio Allocation ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Expected Return ◽  
Asset Return ◽  
Market Portfolio ◽  
New Information ◽  
Trading Model ◽  
Portfolio Managers

We propose a novel multi-period trading model that allows portfolio managers to perform optimal portfolio allocation while incorporating their interpretable investment views. This model’s significant advantage is its intuitive and reactive design that incorporates the latest asset return regimes to quantitatively solve managers’ question: how certain should one be that a given investment view is occurring? First, we describe a framework for multi-period portfolio allocation formulated as a convex optimization problem that trades off expected return, risk and transaction costs. Using a framework borrowed from model predictive control introduced by Boyd et al., we employ optimization to plan a sequence of trades using forecasts of future quantities, only the first set being executed. Multi-period trading lends itself to dynamic readjustment of the portfolio when gaining new information. Second, we use the Black-Litterman model to combine investment views specified in a simple linear combination based format with the market portfolio. A data-driven method to adjust the confidence in the manager’s views by comparing them to dynamically updated regime-switching forecasts is proposed. Our contribution is to incorporate both multi-period trading and interpretable investment views into one framework and offer a novel method of using regime-switching to determine each view’s confidence. This method replaces portfolio managers’ need to provide estimated confidence levels for their views, substituting them with a dynamic quantitative approach. The framework is reactive, tractable and tested on 15 years of daily historical data. In a numerical example, this method’s benefits are found to deliver higher excess returns for the same degree of risk in both the case when an investment view proves to be correct, but, more notably, also the case when a view proves to be incorrect. To facilitate ease of use and future research, we also developed an open-source software library that replicates our results.

scholarly journals Systematic Design and Evaluation of a Citation Function Classification Scheme in Indonesian Journals

Publications ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Yaniasih Yaniasih ◽  
Indra Budi
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Citation Function ◽  
Compilation Process ◽  
Long Short Term Memory

Classifying citations according to function has many benefits when it comes to information retrieval tasks, scholarly communication studies, and ranking metric developments. Many citation function classification schemes have been proposed, but most of them have not been systematically designed for an extensive literature-based compilation process. Many schemes were also not evaluated properly before being used for classification experiments utilizing large datasets. This paper aimed to build and evaluate new citation function categories based upon sufficient scientific evidence. A total of 2153 citation sentences were collected from Indonesian journal articles for our dataset. To identify the new categories, a literature survey was conducted, analyses and groupings of category meanings were carried out, and then categories were selected based on the dataset’s characteristics and the purpose of the classification. The evaluation used five criteria: coherence, ease, utility, balance, and coverage. Fleiss’ kappa and automatic classification metrics using machine learning and deep learning algorithms were used to assess the criteria. These methods resulted in five citation function categories. The scheme’s coherence and ease of use were quite good, as indicated by an inter-annotator agreement value of 0.659 and a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) F1-score of 0.93. According to the balance and coverage criteria, the scheme still needs to be improved. This research data was limited to journals in food science published in Indonesia. Future research will involve classifying the citation function using a massive dataset collected from various scientific fields and published from some representative countries, as well as applying improved annotation schemes and deep learning methods.

scholarly journals Review of Electrochemical DNA Biosensors for Detecting Food Borne Pathogens

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (22) ◽  
pp. 4916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiaoyun Wu ◽  
Yunzhe Zhang ◽  
Qian Yang ◽  
Ning Yuan ◽  
Wei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Pathogen Detection ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Electrochemical Techniques ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dna Biosensors ◽  
Food Borne Pathogens ◽  
Chip Technology ◽  
Food Borne

The vital importance of rapid and accurate detection of food borne pathogens has driven the development of biosensor to prevent food borne illness outbreaks. Electrochemical DNA biosensors offer such merits as rapid response, high sensitivity, low cost, and ease of use. This review covers the following three aspects: food borne pathogens and conventional detection methods, the design and fabrication of electrochemical DNA biosensors and several techniques for improving sensitivity of biosensors. We highlight the main bioreceptors and immobilizing methods on sensing interface, electrochemical techniques, electrochemical indicators, nanotechnology, and nucleic acid-based amplification. Finally, in view of the existing shortcomings of electrochemical DNA biosensors in the field of food borne pathogen detection, we also predict and prospect future research focuses from the following five aspects: specific bioreceptors (improving specificity), nanomaterials (enhancing sensitivity), microfluidic chip technology (realizing automate operation), paper-based biosensors (reducing detection cost), and smartphones or other mobile devices (simplifying signal reading devices).

scholarly journals Electronic Health Record Acceptance by Physicians: A Single Hospital Experience in Daily Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-17
Author(s):  
Andrija Pavlovic ◽  
Nina Rajovic ◽  
Jasmina Pavlovic Stojanovic ◽  
Debora Akinyombo ◽  
Milica Ugljesic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Electronic Health

Introduction: Potential benefits of implementing an electronic health record (EHR) to increase the efficiency of health services and improve the quality of health care are often obstructed by the unwillingness of the users themselves to accept and use the available systems. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence the acceptance of the use of an EHR by physicians in the daily practice of hospital health care. Material and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among physicians in the General Hospital Pancevo, Serbia. An anonymous questionnaire, developed according to the technology acceptance model (TAM), was used for the assessment of EHR acceptance. The response rate was 91%. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. A logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors influencing the acceptance of the use of EHR. Results: The study population included 156 physicians. The mean age was 46.4 ± 10.4 years, 58.8% participants were female. Half of the respondents (50.1%) supported the use of EHR in comparison to paper patient records. In multivariate logistic regression modeling of social and technical factors, ease of use, usefulness, and attitudes towards use of EHR as determinants of the EHR acceptance, the following predictors were identified: use of a computer outside of the office for reading daily newspapers (p = 0.005), EHR providing a greater amount of valuable information (p = 0.007), improvement in the productivity by EHR use (p < 0.001), and a statement that using EHR is a good idea (p = 0.014). Overall the percentage of correct classifications in the model was 83.9%. Conclusion: In this research, determinants of the EHR acceptance were assessed in accordance with the TAM, providing an overall good model fit. Future research should attempt to add other constructs to the TAM in order to fully identify all determinants of physician acceptance of EHR in the complex environment of different health systems.

scholarly journals Feasibility, usability and acceptability of paediatric lung ultrasound among healthcare providers and caregivers for the diagnosis of childhood pneumonia in resource-constrained settings: a qualitative study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e042547
Author(s):  
Atif Riaz ◽  
Olga Cambaco ◽  
Laura Elizabeth Ellington ◽  
Jennifer L Lenahan ◽  
Khatia Munguambe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Lung Ultrasound ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Pneumonia Diagnosis

ObjectivesPaediatric pneumonia burden and mortality are highest in low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC). Paediatric lung ultrasound (LUS) has emerged as a promising diagnostic tool for pneumonia in LMIC. Despite a growing evidence base for LUS use in paediatric pneumonia diagnosis, little is known about its potential for successful implementation in LMIC. Our objectives were to evaluate the feasibility, usability and acceptability of LUS in the diagnosis of paediatric pneumonia.DesignProspective qualitative study using semistructured interviewsSettingTwo referral hospitals in Mozambique and PakistanParticipantsA total of 21 healthcare providers (HCPs) and 20 caregivers were enrolled.ResultsHCPs highlighted themes of limited resource availability for the feasibility of LUS implementation, including perceived high cost of equipment, maintenance demands, time constraints and limited trained staff. HCPs emphasised the importance of policymaker support and caregiver acceptance for long-term success. HCP perspectives of usability highlighted ease of use and integration into existing workflow. HCPs and caregivers had positive attitudes towards LUS with few exceptions. Both HCPs and caregivers emphasised the potential for rapid, improved diagnosis of paediatric respiratory conditions using LUS.ConclusionsThis was the first study to evaluate HCP and caregiver perspectives of paediatric LUS through qualitative analysis. Critical components impacting feasibility, usability and acceptability of LUS for paediatric pneumonia diagnosis in LMIC were identified for initial deployment. Future research should explore LUS sustainability, with a particular focus on quality control, device maintenance and functionality and adoption of the new technology within the health system. This study highlights the need to engage both users and recipients of new technology early in order to adapt future interventions to the local context for successful implementation.Trial registration numberNCT03187067.

scholarly journals Predicting Consumer Intention to Use Mobile Payment Services: Empirical Evidence from Vietnam

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
The Ninh Nguyen ◽  
Tuan Khanh Cao ◽  
Phuong Linh Dang ◽  
Hien Anh Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Mobile Payment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Intention To Use ◽  
Perceived Ease Of Use ◽  
Payment Services ◽  
The Impact

<p>Mobile payment has relative advantages compared to other payment methods, thus providing benefits for both consumers and the society. This study attempts to examine factors influencing consumer intention to use mobile payment services. Survey data are used to investigate the impact of consumers’ perceptions of mobile payment services and social influence on use intention. Empirical evidence from 489 Vietnamese consumers confirms a significant relationship between the factors and behavioral intention, and reveals that perceived trust is the strongest predictor of intention to use mobile payment services followed by perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, perceived behavioral control, perceived usefulness and subjective norm, respectively. The results contribute to the evolving literature, and suggest that mobile payment service providers should particularly focus on building up consumer trust, and making their services clear, understandable and easy to use. Future research directions for extending this study are also discussed.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document