Usability Testing for Rapid Fielding with Small Ns: Lessons Learned during an Army Operational Field Experiment

2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (26) ◽  
pp. 1622-1626
Author(s):  
Pamela A. Savage-Knepshield
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Iterative Design ◽  
Field Environment ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Qualitative Feedback ◽  
Usability Feedback ◽  
Survey Instrument Development

The Army's acquisition process is transforming to meet the needs of a force that must be agile, adaptive, and responsive to asymmetric threats. Advanced capabilities and technologies, which are urgently needed to enable rapid response to evolving military needs, are being developed and pushed out to troops at unprecedented rates. As a result, not all systems have undergone an iterative design process, received usability feedback from their target users, or had design support from human factors engineers to ensure that unit and Soldier considerations have been addressed. Subsequently, these systems may possess characteristics that induce high cognitive workload, fatigue, detectability, or trigger events that lead to fratricide. When human factors engineers encounter a system that has not derived these benefits, they too must become more agile, adaptive, and responsive to ensure that Soldier feedback is collected and that serious issues are identified and resolved before the system makes its way to the battlefield. Lessons learned while participating in advanced technology and experimentation programs include techniques that facilitate working with small Ns, institutional review boards, rapid survey instrument development, and the collection of qualitative feedback as well as the importance of having a “usability tool kit” available to facilitate data collection efforts in an operational field environment.

scholarly journals Ethical Considerations about Genomic Medicine Implementation: Lessons Learned from the eMERGE III Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Kentaro Inamura
Keyword(s):  
Genomic Medicine ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Return Of Results ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Genomic Information ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Study Protocols ◽  
Implementation Studies

The development of high-throughput techniques has permitted the accumulation of enormous amounts of genomic information. As increasing numbers of studies aim to utilize individual genomic information for diagnostic, preventive, or therapeutic purposes, Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) have a greater opportunity to review such types of study protocols. An article published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine titled, “Ethical Considerations Related to Return of Results from Genomic Medicine Projects: The eMERGE Network (Phase III) Experience” identified the common concerns of IRBs in the process of reviewing such studies, and some concerns included the readability of informed consent materials, potential risks to participants, information sharing with family members, options for withdrawal or receiving limited results, and provisions to clear participant questions. Since there is an increase in the number of genomic medicine implementation studies worldwide, the insights provided by this study would assist future researchers in protocol preparation as well as aid project review by IRB members.

scholarly journals Health Care Human Factors/Ergonomics Fieldwork in Home and Community Settings

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupa S. Valdez ◽  
Richard J. Holden
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Informal Caregiver ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Community Settings ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Study Team ◽  
Competing Priorities ◽  
Community Site

Designing innovations aligned with patients’ needs and workflows requires human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) fieldwork in home and community settings. Fieldwork in these extra-institutional settings is challenged by a need to balance the occasionally competing priorities of patient and informal caregiver participants, study team members, and the overall project. We offer several strategies that HF/E professionals can use before, during, and after home and community site visits to optimize fieldwork and mitigate challenges in these settings. Strategies include interacting respectfully with participants, documenting the visit, managing the study team–participant relationship, and engaging in dialogue with institutional review boards.

scholarly journals Understanding How Clinicians Use a New Web-based Tool for Disseminating Evidence-Based Practices for the Treatment of PTSD: The PTSD Clinicians Exchange

2020 ◽  
Vol 185 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 286-295
Author(s):  
Julia L Coleman ◽  
Lisa Marceau ◽  
Rebekah Zincavage ◽  
Ashley M Magnavita ◽  
James Ambrosoli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Participant Engagement ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Qualitative Feedback

Abstract Introduction Web-based interventions hold great promise for the dissemination of best practices to clinicians, and investment in these resources has grown exponentially. Yet, little research exists to understand their impact on intended objectives. Materials & Methods The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Clinicians Exchange is a website to support clinicians treating veterans and active duty military personnel with PTSD, evaluated in a randomized controlled trial (N = 605). This manuscript explores how a subset of clinicians, those who utilized the intervention (N = 148), engaged with it by examining detailed individual-level web analytics and qualitative feedback. Stanford University and New England Research Institutes Institutional Review Boards approved this study. Results Only 32.7% of clinicians randomized to the intervention ever accessed the website. The number of pages viewed was positively associated with changes from baseline to 12 months in familiarity (P = 0.03) and perceived benefit of practices (P = 0.02). Thus, engagement with the website did predict an improvement in practice familiarity and benefit outcomes despite low rates of use. Conclusions This study demonstrates the importance of methodologically rigorous evaluations of participant engagement with web-based interventions. These approaches provide insight into who accesses these tools, when, how, and with what results, which can be translated into their strategic design, evaluation, and dissemination.

scholarly journals Barriers to Development of an App for Improving Staff-Family Communication at Israeli Geriatric Facilities

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 192-193
Author(s):  
Rinat Cohen ◽  
Gal Maydan ◽  
Shai Brill ◽  
Jiska Cohen-Mansfield
Keyword(s):  
Mobile App ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Implementation Planning ◽  
Institutional Adoption ◽  
Communication Needs ◽  
The University ◽  
And Control ◽  
To Receive

Abstract Family caregivers (FCs) of institutionalized noncommunicative older persons reported multiple unmet communication needs focusing on the need to receive reliable and regular updates on the patient’s condition. We have developed a mobile app for improving communication between FCs and healthcare professionals (HPs), based on 152 interviews with FCs and 13 discussion groups with HPs from four Israeli geriatric facilities. Both parties participated in app planning, tailoring it to their needs and abilities. App use implementation encountered major obstacles including the bureaucratic process concerning signing contracts between the university and software development firms, which hindered the process for a full year; data security department required disproportionate security levels that interfered with user experience and delayed the development process; the study’s definition varied across different ethics/Helsinki committees (Institutional Review Boards; IRBs), which led to different demands, e.g., insurance for medical clinical trials although no drugs or medical device were involved; lack of cooperation by mid-level staff members despite the institutional adoption of the app project; low utilization by HPs resulted in FCs not receiving timely responses. Despite these and other obstacles, we tested app use for 15 months in one facility in a pre-post-design with intervention and control groups, and we have since begun testing it in another facility. FCs who had used the app had positive feedback and wished to continue using it. App use optimization requires implementation planning, assimilating changes in each facility’s work procedures and HP’s engagement and motivation and thus depends on institutional procedures and politics.

MRI Research Proposals Involving Child Subjects: Concerns Hindering Research Ethics Boards from Approving Them and a Checklist to Help Evaluate Them

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. DEBORAH SHILOFF ◽  
BRYAN MAGWOOD ◽  
KRISZTINA L. MALISZA
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Scientific Review ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Research Ethics Boards ◽  
A Current

The process of research is often lengthy and can be extremely arduous. It may take many years to proceed from the initial development of an idea through to the comparison of the new modalities against a current gold-standard practice. Each step along the way involves rigorous scientific review, where protocols are scrutinized by multiple scientists not only in the specific field at hand but related fields as well. In addition to scientific review, most countries require a further review by a panel that will specifically address the ethics of the proposed research. In Canada, those panels are referred to as Research Ethics Boards (REB), with the United States counterparts known as Institutional Review Boards (IRB).

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