A Facial Recognition Mobile App for Patient Safety and Biometric Identification: Design, Development, and Validation

Background Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder with a broad variety of symptoms. Although narcolepsy is primarily characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy (loss of muscle control triggered by emotions), patients may suffer from hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, and fragmented night sleep. However, the spectrum of narcolepsy also includes symptoms not related to sleep, such as cognitive or psychiatric problems. Symptoms vary greatly among patients and day-to-day variance can be considerable. Available narcolepsy questionnaires do not cover the whole symptom spectrum and may not capture symptom variability. Therefore, there is a clinical need for tools to monitor narcolepsy symptoms over time to evaluate their burden and the effect of treatment. Objective This study aimed to describe the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of the Narcolepsy Monitor, a companion app for long-term symptom monitoring in narcolepsy patients. Methods After several iterations during which content, interaction design, data management, and security were critically evaluated, a complete version of the app was built. The Narcolepsy Monitor allows patients to report a broad spectrum of experienced symptoms and rate their severity based on the level of burden that each symptom imposes. The app emphasizes the reporting of changes in relative severity of the symptoms. A total of 7 patients with narcolepsy were recruited and asked to use the app for 30 days. Evaluation was done by using in-depth interviews and user experience questionnaire. Results We designed and developed a final version of the Narcolepsy Monitor after which user evaluation took place. Patients used the app on an average of 45.3 (SD 19.2) days. The app was opened on 35% of those days. Daytime sleepiness was the most dynamic symptom, with a mean number of changes of 5.5 (SD 3.7) per month, in contrast to feelings of anxiety or panic, which was only moved 0.3 (SD 0.7) times per month. Mean symptom scores were highest for daytime sleepiness (1.8 [SD 1.0]), followed by lack of energy (1.6 [SD 1.4]) and often awake at night (1.5 [SD 1.0]). The personal in-depth interviews revealed 3 major themes: (1) reasons to use, (2) usability, and (3) features. Overall, patients appreciated the concept of ranking symptoms on subjective burden and found the app easy to use. Conclusions The Narcolepsy Monitor appears to be a helpful tool to gain more insight into the individual burden of narcolepsy symptoms over time and may serve as a patient-reported outcome measure for this debilitating disorder.

Download Full-text

The mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (MAUQ): Development and Validation Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.11500 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Leming Zhou ◽

Jie Bao ◽

I Made Agus Setiawan ◽

Andi Saptono ◽

Bambang Parmanto

Keyword(s):

Reliability And Validity ◽

Correlation Coefficients ◽

Internal Consistency Reliability ◽

Mobile App ◽

Target User ◽

System Usability Scale ◽

System Usability ◽

Study Participants ◽

Development And Validation ◽

Mhealth Apps

BACKGROUND After a mobile health (mHealth) app is created, an important step is to evaluate the usability of the app before it is released to the public. There are multiple ways of conducting a usability study, one of which is collecting target users’ feedback with a usability questionnaire. Different groups have used different questionnaires for mHealth app usability evaluation: The commonly used questionnaires are the System Usability Scale (SUS) and Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ). However, the SUS and PSSUQ were not designed to evaluate the usability of mHealth apps. Self-written questionnaires are also commonly used for evaluation of mHealth app usability but they have not been validated. OBJECTIVE The goal of this project was to develop and validate a new mHealth app usability questionnaire. METHODS An mHealth app usability questionnaire (MAUQ) was designed by the research team based on a number of existing questionnaires used in previous mobile app usability studies, especially the well-validated questionnaires. MAUQ, SUS, and PSSUQ were then used to evaluate the usability of two mHealth apps: an interactive mHealth app and a standalone mHealth app. The reliability and validity of the new questionnaire were evaluated. The correlation coefficients among MAUQ, SUS, and PSSUQ were calculated. RESULTS In this study, 128 study participants provided responses to the questionnaire statements. Psychometric analysis indicated that the MAUQ has three subscales and their internal consistency reliability is high. The relevant subscales correlated well with the subscales of the PSSUQ. The overall scale also strongly correlated with the PSSUQ and SUS. Four versions of the MAUQ were created in relation to the type of app (interactive or standalone) and target user of the app (patient or provider). A website has been created to make it convenient for mHealth app developers to use this new questionnaire in order to assess the usability of their mHealth apps. CONCLUSIONS The newly created mHealth app usability questionnaire—MAUQ—has the reliability and validity required to assess mHealth app usability.

Download Full-text

Spanish Version of the System Usability Scale for the Assessment of Electronic Tools: Development and Validation

JMIR Human Factors ◽

10.2196/21161 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. e21161

Author(s):

Magdalena Del Rocio Sevilla-Gonzalez ◽

Lizbeth Moreno Loaeza ◽

Laura Sofia Lazaro-Carrera ◽

Brigette Bourguet Ramirez ◽

Anabel Vázquez Rodríguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mobile App ◽

Spanish Version ◽

Face Validity ◽

Electronic Systems ◽

Validity Index ◽

Clinical Counseling ◽

System Usability Scale ◽

System Usability ◽

The Face ◽

Development And Validation

Background The System Usability Scale (SUS) is a common metric used to assess the usability of a system, and it was initially developed in English. The implementation of electronic systems for clinical counseling (eHealth and mobile health) is increasing worldwide. Therefore, tools are needed to evaluate these applications in the languages and regional contexts in which the electronic tools are developed. Objective This study aims to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the original English version of the SUS into a Spanish version. Methods The translation process included forward and backward translation. Forward translations were made by 2 native Spanish speakers who spoke English as their second language, and a backward translation was made by a native English speaker. The Spanish SUS questionnaire was validated by 10 experts in mobile app development. The face validity of the questionnaire was tested with 10 mobile phone users, and the reliability testing was conducted among 88 electronic application users. Results The content validity index of the new Spanish SUS was good, as indicated by a rating of 0.92 for the relevance of the items. The questionnaire was easy to understand, based on a face validity index of 0.94. The Cronbach α was .812 (95% CI 0.748-0.866; P<.001). Conclusions The new Spanish SUS questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool to assess the usability of electronic tools among Spanish-speaking users.

Download Full-text

The Development and Validation of a Module on Enhancing Students' Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Writing Skills

SAR Journal - Science and Research ◽

10.18421/sar34-04 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 166-177

Author(s):

Moustafa Mohamed Abdelmohsen

Keyword(s):

Critical Thinking ◽

Writing Skills ◽

Design Development ◽

Validity And Reliability ◽

Paired Samples ◽

Foundation Program ◽

The Mean ◽

Analysis Design ◽

Addie Model ◽

Development And Validation

This study aims to develop and test the validity of a module on enhancing students' collaboration, critical thinking (2Cs) and writing skills. To develop the module, the researcher used ADDIE model which incorporates five primary phases, namely Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation. The study used a tryout group which incorporated 20 participants who studied English at The General Foundation Program at a private college in Oman. The study employed a pretest-posttest quasiexperimental design. Paired Samples t-Test was used to compare the mean scores of both tests. Apropos of module validity, a total of 5 experts validated the module. The findings revealed that there is a statistically significant mean difference between the participants' scores in both the pretest and posttest. Further, it was found that the module has good validity and reliability.

Download Full-text