Will family health history tools work for complex families? Scenario-based testing of a web-based consumer...

Identify challenges that people from complex families may encounter when using traditional consumer family health history (FHH) applications and examine assumptions on which the applications are based.

Scenario-based testing was employed in which three evaluators used a consumer FHH application guided by four scenarios, recording the challenges they encountered and time required. Challenges identified were analyzed through qualitative content analysis of field notes.

Several types of FHH information deemed important in the scenarios could not be entered into the traditional FHH. Evaluators reported frustration at being unable to enter some information and perceived the resulting FHH as less accurate than it could be. These observations challenge certain implicit assumptions about families and consumers on which FHH applications are based.

Current consumer FHH applications mirror clinical FHH tools, which may not be the most appropriate approach for consumers, especially for people from complex and diverse families.